Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, Architecture museum at Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France

The Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine occupies the Paris wing of the Palais de Chaillot, with 22,000 square metres of floor space and 9,000 square metres of galleries. Its Galerie des moulages holds casts of French monumental architecture from the 12th to the 18th century, including cathedral portals; the Galerie des peintures murales et des vitraux shows full-size copies of Romanesque and Gothic murals and stained glass; the Galerie moderne et contemporaine presents models from 1850 onward.

The museum's lineage starts with Alexandre Lenoir's Musée des Monuments français, founded in 1795 and closed in 1816. In 1879 Eugène Viollet-le-Duc set out the project that became the 1882 Musée de la Sculpture comparée at the Trocadéro. An accidental fire on 22 July 1997 damaged the roof of the Paris wing of the Palais de Chaillot; the Cité was created as an EPIC on 9 July 2004 and opened to the public on 19 September 2007.

The collection tells the story of how French architecture reflected the needs and values of different times. You can see actual carved stonework, pieces of cathedral windows, and building models that show how people lived and what mattered to them.

Wear comfortable shoes since the collections are spread across multiple levels and there is a lot to explore. It helps to check which exhibitions are on when you visit so you can plan your time accordingly.

The Cité launched the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2006, an initiative of architect and professor Jana Revedin. UNESCO has placed the prize under its patronage since 2010, and five architects receive it each year at the Cité.