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Palais de Chaillot Review

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Palais de Chaillot

Address: Pl. du Trocadéro, Trocadéro/Tour Eiffel, Paris | Map It

Category: Castles/Palaces
Location: The Champs-Elysées

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Fodor's Review:

This honey-color Art Deco cultural center on Place du Trocadéro was built in the 1930s to replace a Moorish-style building constructed for the World's Fair of 1878. The plaza-terrace is a top draw for camera-toting visitors intent on snapping the perfect shot of the Eiffel Tower. In the building to the left is the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine —an excellent architecture museum—and the Theâtre National de Chaillot, which occasionally stages plays in English. Also here is the Institut Français d'Architecture, an organization and school. The twin building to the right contains the Musée de la Marine, an excellent small museum with a nautical theme; and the forgettable Musée de l'Homme (natural history and ethnology), where t he cozy Café de L'Homme has a fantastic view of the tower but the pricey menu often disappoints. The garden leading to the Seine has sculptures and dramatic fountains and is a dramatic staging ground for fireworks on July 14, Bastille Day.