Musée d'Orsay

Once a grand railway station, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France is home to many sculptures and impressionist paintings and has become one of the city's most popular museums. Explore the fantastic museums of Paris by car hire, and make sure to add this lovely old railway station, Musée d'Orsay, to your must-see list.

In the early 1900s Paris expanded transportation into the heart of the city with the addition of two large railway stations, the Gare de Lyon and the Gare d'Orsay. Given the most prominent site, the Gare d'Orsay was built along the Siene River opposite the Louvre Palace.

The Gare d'Orsay is a magnificent structure and was ground breaking for its time. It features a 140 meter long hall, 40 meters wide and 32 meters high. A total of 12,000 tons of metal was used for its construction, which is well more than the amount of metal used to create the Eiffel Tower!

Though it was considered to be a masterpiece of industrial architecture, its platforms soon became too short for the much longer trains which were in use as early as 1939. Before its time as a museum it was used as a parking lot, a shooting stand, a theatre, and even a reception centre for prisoners of war. Enjoy leaning more about the history of the Musée d'Orsay, as well as exploring its many exhibits with the freedom of your own Paris car rental.

The Musée d'Orsay holds a collection spanning a period from the mid 19th century up to 1914, and features the works of Degas, Rodin, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, van Gogh as well as many others.