Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Pavillon de l'Arsenal is a building built in 1879 by architect Clément for the wood merchant Laurent-Louis Borniche, which housed a collection of paintings for a "popular museum". This place, located on the site of an old powder factory, was then converted into a warehouse, then annexed to the workshops of the Samaritan, before being bought by the city of Paris in 1954 to serve as a repository of archives.

In 1988, after a renovation led by architects Reichen and Robert, the Pavillon became an exhibition centre dedicated to urban planning and architecture in Paris and its metropolis. Founded under the leadership of Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris, and initially led by Ann-José Arlot, he has been offering permanent and temporary exhibitions and a documentation centre with 70,000 photographs. Its objective is to make the history, projects and contemporary issues of Parisian urban planning accessible to the public.

The Pavilion is structured around three thematic spaces: a permanent exhibition on the ground floor on the evolution of Paris, temporary exhibitions on the first floor (renewed three times a year), and a space dedicated to news projects on the second floor. He also publishes books, organizes lectures with renowned architects (such as Jean Nouvel or Frank Gehry), and develops digital tools, including an interactive model of the metropolis in partnership with Google and JCDecaux.

Since its creation, the Pavilion has expanded its influence by offering travelling exhibitions, a video platform (Arsenal TV) with more than 350 films, and a collaborative database of contemporary architectures in Île-de-France (Architopik.com). He also launched in 2010 a General Public Prize for Contemporary Architectures, allowing Internet users to vote for their favourite buildings. The management was successively carried out by Ann-José Arlot (1988-2003), Dominique Alba (2003-2012), Alexandre Labasse (2012-2023), and Marion Waller since February 2023.

Collection

L'exposition permanente au rez-de-chaussée sur 800 m2, intitulée Paris, Visite guidée, permet de découvrir comment Paris s'est constituée au fil des siècles, ainsi que ses perspectives d'évolution.

Le premier étage accueille des expositions temporaires/thématiques sur 600 m2 renouvelées 3 fois par an portant sur l'architecture parisienne.

Le deuxième étage présente des sujets d'actualité sur 200 m2, tels que les projets présentés dans le cadre de concours d'architecture situés à Paris et dans la Métropole parisienne.

External links