Paris, March 24th, 2000

Good news from Paris which will make happy some of the more than 1000
members of our MMD mailing list !

Closed since 1993, the Musee des Arts et Metiers, a very large
scientific museum in Paris is open again since last Tuesday, March 21st.

Seven years of hard work have been necessary and have proved successful,
under the steady and efficient direction of Dominique Ferriot. She is
the "directeur" of the museum, which is itself a part of the CNAM,
Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, which is a kind of large
scientific university, with many subsidiaries throughout France.

A really huge work has been done:  the building has been completely
renovated, the collections re-displayed in a more modern way (but using
some of the old beautiful wooden window-cases), and the more than 90% of
the collections which could not find a decent place in the renovated
building in the middle of Paris, are now protected and may be viewed (by
appointment only) in a large modern building just outside Paris, in
Saint-Denis.

You are strongly invited to visit this museum when you will be in Paris.
In addition to many, many technical artifacts and models, there are in
our fields of interest many musical clocks, mechanical music instruments
and automatas (demonstrations are given on certain days and hours only:
please inquire).

The best known of these automatas is probably the "Joueuse de Tympanon"
(Tympanon player) by Roentgen and Kintzing, built at the end of the
XVIIIth century, and who is supposed to figure the Queen
Marie-Antoinette.

About 5000 items are displayed in the museum building in Paris, and
there are about 75.000 other items in the reserves in Saint-Denis ...

Practical information:

The museum is opened six days a week. 10-6 (until 9.30 pm on Thursdays)
Closed on Monday and bank holidays.
Normal entrance fee : 30 FF. Several reduced fees do exist.
Entrance 60, rue Reaumur, 75003 Paris.
Subway : Arts et Metiers, and many buses.
Tel. : +33 (0)1 53 01 82 00
Visit the museum web site at : www.cnam.fr/museum/

And may I remind you that the web site Musica Mecanica, although
independent of the museum, is graciously hosted on the Museum web site :
you will find an agenda of coming events, a listing of more than 200
museums (public and private) displaying mechanical music items
throughout the world, and the addresses of about 30 associations of
mechanical music fans (MBSI, MBSGB, GSM, FOPS, KDV, AAIMM, etc.), and
much more ...

Best regards from Paris,

Philippe Rouille

Philippe Rouille
(Paris, France)
rouille@cnam.fr
http://www.cnam.fr/museum/musica_mecanica/