The Musée d'Orsay in paris is one of my favorite galleries. The building dates from around 1900 but, as a mainline train station, it had become obsolete by 1939. In 1970 is was approved for demolition to be replaced by a hotel but, this being france, it was listed as a Historic Monument instead. In December 1986 the building was reborn in its current role of art museum covering mainly French art from 1848 to 1915 and bridging the gap between the collections of the Louvre and the Pompidou Center. If you like the impressionists then the Musée d'Orsay has to be on your list of places to visit. This photo shows the cavernous main hall. Most of the exhibits are in galleries on either side of this hall. The lower floor in the center of the hall is about where the platforms used to be when there used to be 16 tracks down at that level, tunneled through from the Gare d'Austerlitz.
Interior of the main hall of the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France.
