Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie
France > Paris > East > Parc de la Villette > Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie

La Villette

The Parc de la Villette's dominant building is the enormous Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Tues–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 10am–7pm; €7.50 includes admission to Explora, temporary exhibitions and the Louis-Lumière 3D Cinema; www.cite-sciences.fr; M° Porte-de-la-Villette), an abandoned abattoir redesigned by architect Adrien Fainsilber and transformed into a high-tech museum. Four times the size of the Pompidou Centre, from the outside it appears fortress-like, despite the transparency of its giant glass walls beneath a dark blue lattice of steel, reinforced by walkways that accelerate out towards the Géode across a moat level with the underground floors. Once you are inside, however, the solidity of first impressions is totally reversed by the three themes of water (around the building), vegetation (in three greenhouses) and light – with which the building is flooded, from vast skylights as well as the glass facade.

This is the science museum to end all science museums, and worth visiting for the interior of the building alone: all glass and stainless steel, crow's-nests and cantilevered platforms, bridges and suspended walkways, the different levels linked by lifts and escalators around a huge central space open to the full 40m height of the roof. It may be colossal, but you are more likely to lose yourself mentally rather than physically, and come out after several hours reeling with images and ideas about DNA, quasars, bacteria reproduction, curved space or rocket launching. Entry to the building itself is free, as are some of the facilities within – the cafés, aquarium, médiathèques, and viewing of documentaries (in French) in the Salle Jean-Bertin and the Salle Jean-Painlevé. The ticket for Explora (the permanent exhibition) is valid all day, but for four entries only.

An audioguide in English is available at the counter in the main hall (€3.80), and includes details about the architecture, explanations for Explora and the soundtrack for some of the planetarium shows (2pm, 3pm, 4pm & 5pm). It's recommended if you want to make the most of the museum, unless your French is very good.

The exhibition space, Explora, is ranged across the top two floors (pick up a detailed plan in English from the welcome desk on niveau 1) and includes both temporary shows and a permanent exhibition divided into twenty units. These cover a variety of subjects, among them sound, robots, computer science, expression and behaviour, oceans, energy, light, the environment, mathematics, medicine, space and language. As the name suggests, the emphasis is on exploring, and the means used are interactive computers, multi-media displays, videos, holograms, animated models and games.

On level 1, a classic example of chaos theory introduces the maths section: La Fontaine Turbulente is a wheel of glasses rotating below a stream of water in which the switch between clockwise and anticlockwise motion is unpredictable beyond two minutes. An "inertial carousel" – a revolving drum (2–6pm only) – provides a four-minute insight into the strange transformations of objects in motion. In Les Sons (sounds), you can watch a video of an x-rayed jaw and throat talking or sit in a cubicle and feel your body tingle with physical sensations as a rainstorm crashes around you. In Expressions et Comportements, you can take part in interactive videos, changing the behaviour of the characters to engineer a different outcome, and you can watch an "Odorama" video. In Computers, you can steer robots through mazes, make music by your own movements, try out a flight simulation, or watch computer-guided puppet shows and holograms of different eras' visions of the universe.

On level 2, in the biology section, you can examine microbes magnified millions of times. In the medicine section, smell the herbs used by different cultures as alternative remedies. In Etoiles et Galaxies, explore large-scale models of space rockets and space stations and a real Mirage jet fighter. The Jeux de Lumière is a whole series of experiments to do with colour, optical illusions, refraction and the like. You can have your head spun further by a session in the planetarium (shows 11am, noon, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm & 5pm; 35min; €2.50).

Back on the ground floor, the Cinéma Louis-Lumière shows short stereoscopic (3D) films every half hour or so, for which you'll have to queue. General documentaries in French only are shown in the Salle Jean-Bertin (programmes at 10.15am, 2.15pm & 4.15pm; free), and more serious scientific documentaries in the Salle Jean-Painlevé (niveau S1; Sat & Sun 4pm & 5.30pm; free). In the Médiathèque (S1 & S2; noon–6.45pm; free), a multi-media library, you can select from over 4000 films at individual consoles, as well as consult educational software, books and magazines. Information on current French and international scientific research is displayed in the Salle Science Actualités (S1), next door to the Cité des Métiers (noon–6pm; free), the latter of which provides free access to information on finding work, changing careers, training, creating your own employment, and working conditions in different countries. It even offers an on-the-spot consultancy with a careers advisor. Finally, on the lowest floor (S2), you can eat and drink beside an aquarium filled with Mediterranean sea life.