Cité de l’Architecture & the Museum Pass 2026

Last updated: February 2026 · Prices and details verified

Is the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine included in the Paris Museum Pass?

Yes — the Paris Museum Pass covers full entry to the Cité de l’Architecture, saving you €13 per person. A timed-entry reservation is mandatory — book at citedelarchitecture.fr before your visit.

Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine — Fast Facts

Address	1 Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, 75116 Paris
Nearest Metro	Trocadéro (Metro 6 & 9) — 3 min walk (Metro 6, 9)
Bus	22, 30, 32, 63, 72, 82
Opening hours	Monday, Wednesday–Sunday 11am–7pm · Thursday until 9pm · Closed Tuesday, 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, 25 December
Closed	Tuesdays, 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, 25 December
Individual ticket	€13 (2026)
With Museum Pass	Free — included

What to Know Before You Visit

The Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine is the world’s largest architecture museum — occupying the eastern wing of the Palais de Chaillot at the Trocadéro, directly opposite the Eiffel Tower. Founded as the Musée de Sculpture Comparée in 1882, it presents 1,000 years of French architectural heritage across 22,000 square metres. The Galerie des Moulages (Casts Gallery) on the ground floor is the centrepiece — hundreds of full-scale plaster casts of cathedral portals, column capitals, and architectural fragments from medieval France.

Reservation required. A timed-entry reservation is mandatory for Museum Pass holders. Book at citedelarchitecture.fr before your visit. Slots available on the museum’s online ticketing site.

Note: The Cité is in the same Palais de Chaillot complex as the Musée National de la Marine and the Musée de l’Homme — all at Trocadéro. The Girafe restaurant (ground floor, accessible without a museum ticket) has one of the best Eiffel Tower views in Paris. Thursday evenings until 9pm are particularly pleasant. Closed on 14 July.

Collection Highlights

Three permanent galleries cover medieval through contemporary French architecture — the Casts Gallery is one of the most spectacular rooms in any Paris museum.

Highlight 1
The Galerie des Moulages
hundreds of full-scale plaster casts of cathedral portals, tympana, column capitals, and architectural fragments from Vézelay, Chartres, Reims, and other great French monuments

Highlight 2
The Murals and Stained Glass Gallery
full-scale reproductions of Romanesque and Gothic wall paintings and stained glass windows, including sections from Fontevraud Abbey and the Sainte-Chapelle

Highlight 3
The Modern and Contemporary Architecture Gallery
1,800 square metres of models, drawings, photographs, and reconstructed apartments tracing French architecture from Haussmann to Jean Nouvel

Visitor tip: Start in the Galerie des Moulages on the ground floor and allow yourself to be overwhelmed by scale — the full-size plaster casts of cathedral portals are several metres tall. Then work upward through the galleries. Thursday evenings until 9pm are consistently the least crowded.

Getting There

Metro 6 or 9 to Trocadéro — the museum entrance is at 1 Place du Trocadéro in the right wing of the Palais de Chaillot. From RER C (Champ de Mars — Tour Eiffel), it is a 15-minute walk across the Trocadéro gardens. Musée Guimet is a 5-minute walk and easy to combine.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — a timed-entry reservation is mandatory for all visitors including Museum Pass holders. Book at citedelarchitecture.fr before your visit. Slots are available on the museum’s online ticketing site and are generally easy to secure except during peak exhibition periods.

The Galerie des Moulages is the ground floor Casts Gallery — the most spectacular room in the museum. It holds hundreds of full-scale plaster casts of architectural elements from France’s greatest medieval monuments: the tympanum of Vézelay, portals from Chartres and Reims, column capitals, corbels, and entire sections of Gothic facades. The technique of creating these casts — developed in the 19th century — allowed the museum to preserve exact records of monuments before centuries of weathering. Standing next to a full-size plaster cast of a Chartres cathedral portal is a genuinely disorienting experience.

Yes — it is in the Palais de Chaillot at the Trocadéro, sharing the building with the Musée National de la Marine (2 min walk) and near the Musée Guimet (5 min walk) and Musée du Quai Branly (15 min walk). All are pass-covered. The Trocadéro terrace directly outside offers one of the best free views of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.