The gallery of casts
The Chartres portal and Vézelay carvings at eye level.
Architecture Patrimoine — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 4net — CC BY 3.0 · Hadonos — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Les Hotels Paris Rive Gauche - AlainB — CC BY-SA 2.0
The third museum in the **Palais de Chaillot** at Trocadéro, and the strangest in conception and the most astonishing to anyone who walks in without expecting it. Its heart is the **gallery of casts**: an enormous high-ceilinged hall filled with **full-size** replicas of façades, portals, columns and sculpture from French cathedrals, churches and palaces across a thousand years. The casts were made in the nineteenth century on the instruction of the architect **Viollet-le-Duc** to record and teach the architectural heritage, before modern means of documentation existed. The result is that you stand before the portal of Chartres cathedral or the carvings of Moissac or Vézelay **close up and at eye level** — where in reality they sit at heights from which no detail is visible. Some of these casts have become more valuable than their originals, preserving the state of the original a century and a half before erosion and war. Above it is a floor on **modern and contemporary architecture**, holding a full-scale replica of a **Le Corbusier apartment** from the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, which you enter and walk through. ⚠ Its windows look directly onto the **Eiffel Tower**.
The Chartres portal and Vézelay carvings at eye level.
A full replica of the Marseille Unité apartment you walk into.
The Eiffel Tower directly from inside the galleries.
1 Place du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris
Chaillot PalaceThe two curved wings embracing the Trocadéro plaza are the Palais de Chaillot, b1 minute walk4.5
Musée de l'HommeA museum about **humanity itself**, in a wing of the Palais de Chaillot at **Tro1 minute walk4.3
Musée National de la MarineIt occupies the wing facing the Musée de l'Homme in the **Palais de Chaillot** a1 minute walk4.5
jardins du TrocadéroIf Paris has an official balcony for receiving guests, it is the Trocadéro garde2 minutes walk4.7
Guimet MuseumOne of the greatest Asian-arts museums on earth stands quietly on Place d'Iéna b6 minutes walk4.5Looking for halal food near Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine? There are several options nearby, from Moroccan and Indian kitchens to quick casual spots and places with a view. Confirm the halal status and opening hours before you go — these can change.
New JawadHalalNew Jawad is an Indo-Pakistani restaurant on Avenue Rapp, a short walk from the 12 minutes walk · $$$4.4Quai NedyHalalHalal international cooking with a view of the Eiffel Tower, which is what sets 19 minutes walk · $$$
Berkeley GardenHalalHalal Indian cooking that suits families and group dinners, about eight minutes'13 minutes walk · $$$
Snack&RushHalalHalal fast food at budget prices, about five minutes' walk from the tower. The m13 minutes walk · $
NouraHalalNoura is not a discovery; it is the institution every Arab visitor to Paris has 15 minutes walk · $$$4.5
Novotel Paris Centre Tour EiffelThe Novotel Paris Centre Tour Eiffel is a large hotel on Quai de Grenelle, direc17 minutes walk · $$4.3
Pullman Paris Tour EiffelThe Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel is genuinely the closest of the large Paris hotels11 minutes walk · $$$4.7
Four Seasons George VThe George V is the benchmark the rest of luxury Paris is measured against. It o14 minutes walk · $$$$4.9
The Peninsula ParisThe Peninsula Paris is a modern hotel inside an old building: the house dates to13 minutes walk · $$$$4.8
Prince de GallesThe Prince de Galles is a direct neighbour of the George V on the same avenue, b14 minutes walk · $$$$4.4For three practical reasons. **First**: this sculpture sits on cathedral façades at heights from which no detail is visible — here you stand at eye level and see what a visitor to Chartres itself cannot. **Second**: the originals are scattered across dozens of French towns; here they are in one hall to compare. **Third**, and most importantly: the casts were made in the nineteenth century, so they preserve **the original as it was 150 years ago**, before pollution, erosion and war — and some of their detail no longer exists on the original stone.
They share **one building** — the Palais de Chaillot — at the Trocadéro metro stop, which makes the site one of the most efficient in Paris: the **Cité de l'Architecture**, the **Musée de l'Homme** and the **Musée de la Marine**, with the **free terrace** and its famous Eiffel Tower view between them. All three in one day is exhausting; the realistic plan is **two** in a day with a break on the terrace. Ask about **combined tickets**, and check the closing days — they do not necessarily match across the three.