Musée d’Orsay occupies Victor Laloux’s former Gare d’Orsay, built for the 1900 Paris Exposition. Its glass roof, clocks and great nave preserve the experience of a railway terminus, now framing collections of art and design from 1848 to 1914.
Quick facts
Gare d’Orsay and its hotel opened on 14 July 1900 for the Exposition Universelle; Victor Laloux was selected as architect in 1898.
The station’s central hall is approximately 138 metres long, 40 metres wide and 32 metres high, and served as the terminus for southwest France from 1900 to 1939.
Musée d’Orsay was inaugurated on 1 December 1986 and opened to the public on 9 December, presenting Western art from 1848 to 1914 across several disciplines.
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At Musée d’Orsay, the railway building is part of the collection’s story. Before you focus on the paintings, look along the immense central nave: the clocks, stone surfaces, metalwork and glass roof belong to a station built to welcome travelers to the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. The museum occupies the former Gare d’Orsay on the Seine in the 7th arrondissement.
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