PalQ

Few would probably guess that it's the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie at La Villette on Paris' northeast fringe. 3.18 million visitors in 2005. The museum opened its door in 1986 on the night that Halley's comet appeared in the sky.

Robespierre

Let me guess:

1. Louvre
2. Orsay
3. Cluny (or Rodin?)

PalQ

I don't know what the first three are and didn't mean to imply that i did - article i was quoting just said 4th most popular but you list sounds good - first two a given - third???

cailin

actually, I just googled it, and Cite des Sciences & de L'industrie is the 3rd most visited according to the gofrance website 1. Louvre
2. Pompidou
3. Cite
4. Orsay

PalQ

I was wondering if Pompidou was a museum - parts of it are but the whole thing?
My 4th for Cite comes from News from France, published by the French Embassy (US) Press and Information service. a special exhibition on Star Wars and George Lucas, the article says, bosted Cite's attendance in 2005 and this year as it runs thru August 27. www.cite-sciences.fr

dutyfree

Anyone know where the Caen museum is on the list? I still think that it was amazing but then I am a history person rather than an art person!

Robespierre

That is truly astounding. Every time we've been to the Pompidou, we've practically had the place to ourselves.

Intrepid1

Pal,

Why in the rold do you want to go to the <b>fourth</b> most visited museum when you could be in the fifth????

brookwood

Me thinks this is like the announced crowd at a recent sporting event I attended.
The loud speaker roared, AND ITS A SELLOUT CROWD. How can that be when I could see several hundred empty seats?

Sounds good even if there are yawning chasms of vacancies.

Christina

well, I'm amazed at the Cite des Sciences etc being 4th! I suppose it's because it's a place locals go with their kids a lot (or perhaps lots of schoolgroups?). Still....

The Pompidou has always been pretty full whenever I've been in it -- in fact, it's the one museum I've had to wait in line for entry, other than Louvre and Orsay.

I'm not sure I get the question about the Pompidou being a museum. Of course there are other things in that complex (the Centre Pompidou), but there is still a museum in there (which is officially the MuseeNational d'Art Moderne). If the list was about museums, I think it would be referring to that museum, rather than visits to the library or something.

111op

Well, I think that IRCAM is part of Pompidou. Granted, there probably aren't that many visitors to IRCAM, and it's probably not open to the public (or open by appt.).

I've the feeling that Beaubourg is more popular to the French than the Louvre, actually. It'd be interesting to see rankings without tourists.

Robespierre

Maybe they sold all the seats, but not everyone showed up?

111op

Seats to IRCAM? I'm not sure if concerts are held there. But it's a research institute founded by Pierre Boulez, I think. Un monstre sacre veritable. (Don't correct my accents.)

Contrary to what people may tell you, you need to pronounce the &quot;z&quot; in Boulez.

PalQ

un veritable monstre sacre?

Christina

yeah, IRCAM is in there, but it's not a museum, either--so if the article was about museums, it would have to be the Modern Art one in there.

I was thinking a lot of folks might go up there to go to the restaurant or just to ride the cool escalators and see the view, but they wouldn't be counted in the museum entries (which I'm sure is how they came up with that list--they do keep track).

I always thought it was odd how Boulez pronounced his name, but sometimes proper or family names don't have the pronunciations you would expect. Poulenc's name isn't pronounced the way you would think if it were only a regular French word. I used to think people were just making a mistake and didn't know French pronunciation well, but then I actually met his niece once at some benefit or concert, and that was the way she pronounced it, also (poo-lank as the English word lank).

StCirq

There are quite a few French words ending in ez where you pronounce the &quot;ez&quot; as in English - the city of Rodez being one of them.

PalQ

And my sister-in-law's last name: DURIEZ - der - ri - ez

111op

I just threw in IRCAM to tease people and to point out that there's more to the Pompidou center than the art museum.

I think that proper names and geographical names have unique pronunciations. I was talking about the pronunciation of Boulez with someone. There's actually an interesting tidbit in Wikipedia about this.