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Explore the fascinating world of military model representations of buildings and regions

Museum Musée des Plans-Reliefsof Relief Maps

Highlights

  • Experience the city’s most popular attractions, museums and guided tours with the Paris City Pass – one ticket, everything included! 
  • Included in your Paris City Pass is the Paris Museum Pass which gives you free and priority entry to the city's most popular museums and monuments!
  • No advance booking is required for this attraction – your City Pass is your admission ticket 
  • Discover models of French and foreign fortified towns, but also directional plans, relief maps and theoretical models of fortifications 
  • In addition to its collection of models, the museum keeps the preparatory documents for the 19th century reliefs 
  • The Museum of Miniatures currently houses 28 models of fortifications along the English Channel, the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts and the Pyrenees 
  • The "Musée des Plans-Reliefs" is located in the Hôtel des Invalides 

Relief plans as strategic military instruments: explore the defence along the coast and the borders under Louis XIV.

What awaits you on site

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An exceptional collection of historical models of fortified towns and their surroundings, commissioned by the state from Louis XIV to Napoleon III. The French collection of plan reliefs is the legacy of a tradition that originated in Europe in the 16th century. Indeed, it was common for military engineers to make models to represent their plans for fortifications, the fortifications of a territory or the siege works against a city. 

The first relief plans were made to accompany the fortification work carried out by Louis XIV’s engineers in the recently conquered fortresses of Spanish Flanders. The models were intended as long-distance appraisals for the king and his staff and showed the progress of work on a fortress in three dimensions, first the plans, then the work in progress and finally the finished fortifications. 

The museum exhibits unique works whose attention to detail is still impressive today

The materials used to make the models (cardboard, paper, silk, sand) are very fragile and do not tolerate moisture or light. For this reason, the relief plans are now exhibited in air-conditioned showcases with fibre optic lighting of no more than 50 lux.

The presentation of the relief plans according to large geographical areas makes it possible to resume the concept of the gallery as it has existed since the presentation of the collection in the Louvre. It also makes it possible to emphasise the concept of military borders while recalling the strategic characteristics of each region. 

How to get there

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Address:
129 Rue de Grenelle, Paris, France

Good to know

  • Opening hours
    Monday
    From 1 April to 30 September: 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
    From 1 October to 31 March: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
    Closed on the 1st Monday of each month from 1 October to 30 June.

    Tuesday to Sunday
    From 1 April to 30 September: 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
    From 1 October to 31 March: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm 

  • Recurring closures: 1 January, 1 May, 25 December 

This attraction is included in your Paris City Pass


 

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