West of rue Volta is the Musée des Arts et Métiers (daily except Mon 10am–6pm, Thurs until 9.30pm; €5.50; www.arts-et-metiers.net; M° Arts et Métiers), at 60 rue de Réaumur. This fascinating museum of technological innovation is part of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers and incorporates the former Benedictine priory of St-Martin-des-Champs, its original chapel dating from the fourth century. Extensively revamped a few years ago, the museum happily combines creaky old floors and spacious rooms with high-tech, twenty-first-century touches. Its most important exhibit is Foucault's pendulum, which had been on loan in recent years to the Panthéon, where Foucault's successful experiment to prove the rotation of the earth was first conducted in 1851. The famous orb now resides under glass in the chapel, surrounded by all manner of planes and automobiles.Other exhibits include the laboratory of Lavoisier, the French chemist who first showed that water is a combination of oxygen and hydrogen and, hanging as if in mid-flight above the grand staircase is the elegant "Avion 3", a flying machine complete with feathered propellers, which was donated to the Conservatoire after several ill-fated attempts to fly it.
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