Latin Quarter Museums Guide: Cluny and the Pantheon

The Latin Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in Paris. The Roman baths, the Sorbonne, the Pantheon and the Cluny Museum all sit within a 10 minute walk of each other. Building a museum day around them gives you years of Paris history in one afternoon.

This guide picks the 4 essential Latin Quarter museums in , plus the academic stops nearby that fit naturally between visits.

Musee de Cluny: medieval art and Roman baths

The Musee de Cluny on Place Paul Painleve combines Roman bath ruins under the building with one of the best medieval art collections in Europe. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are the highlight.

Renovated in with a new modern entrance, the museum now flows naturally between Roman frigidarium, 15th century chapel and treasure rooms. Plan 2 hours. Closed Monday.

The Pantheon: French heroes and Foucault's pendulum

Five minute walk uphill from the Cluny brings you to the Pantheon, originally built as a church for Sainte Genevieve and turned into the resting place of French heroes after the Revolution.

Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas are all buried in the crypt. Foucault's famous pendulum hangs from the central dome. The rooftop colonnade is one of the best panoramic terraces in Paris.

Institut du Monde Arabe: modern building, world view

South of the Cluny on Quai Saint Bernard, the Institut du Monde Arabe sits in a Jean Nouvel building with motorized facade panels that open and close like camera apertures. Inside, 9 levels of art and ethnography from the Arab world.

The free rooftop terrace gives a 360 view of Notre Dame, the Seine and Saint Louis Island. Open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00.

Musee de la Sculpture en Plein Air: free outdoor sculpture

Along the Seine quay between the Institut and the Jardin des Plantes, the open air sculpture museum displays 50 abstract works from the 1960s and 1970s by Cesar, Tinguely and others.

Free, always open, no schedule. Best at golden hour when the Seine reflects the sculptures. Combine with a 20 minute Seine walk if the weather is good.

Bonus: Sorbonne courtyard and Shakespeare and Company

Even if you do not enter the Sorbonne for an organized visit, you can usually walk through the courtyard via the rue des Ecoles entrance. The bookshop Shakespeare and Company faces Notre Dame from across the Seine, the best non museum cultural stop in the Latin Quarter.

Finish your Latin Quarter day at the Square Rene Viviani next to Shakespeare and Company. The oldest tree in Paris, planted in 1601, stands there.

A Latin Quarter museum day is shorter and more cerebral than a Marais one. You leave with a sense of why Paris is the way it is, not just with images. Plan it for an afternoon when you have already done the Louvre and the Orsay and want to slow down.