In a beautiful building dating from Paris World Fair 1937 (Palais de Chaillot – Trocadero’s district), the National Navy Museum (Musée National de la Marine) is dedicated to the history of the French Navy from the 18e century till nowadays.
A museum for all passionate, but also for curious people who would like to discover in depth this world full of myths, fantasies and fantastic stories.
Like the nearby Museum of Architecture and Heritage, you will be first struck by the amazing size of the rooms and works.
Know for example that the Imperial Boat of Napoleon 1st, masterpiece of the Museum, required to make holes in the walls of the Palais de Chaillot to be putted in. Other pieces, as the stern of king Louis XIV’s galley or the paintings made by Joseph Vernet showing French ports in the 18th century, make the museum one of the most important, and most complete, Navy Museum in Europe.
And, although the collection is for the most part made up of small boat scale models or paintings, the Museum does not forget to devote rooms to the men who shape maritime history (explorers, merchants, servicemen, sinners, pirates…), neither to explain navigation or construction technologies.
You got it, the National Navy Museum is obviously a history museum, but also deals with society, sciences and technology.
- Others museums around Place du Trocadéro