Musée des monuments français

Full-size plaster casts of church portals, tombs and statues let visitors stand before the great sculpture of medieval France without leaving Paris. The Musée des monuments français occupies part of the Palais de Chaillot at the Trocadéro, within the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, the name most visitors will see on signs.

The ground-floor cast gallery runs from Romanesque to Renaissance work. Casts include the carved portal of Moissac and Gothic cathedral figures, displayed at true scale so that details usually seen high on a facade can be studied up close. Upstairs, a gallery of mural painting and stained glass reproduces decorated vaults and chapels from across France. A modern architecture section includes a full-scale replica of an apartment from Le Corbusier's Unité d'habitation in Marseille.

The cast collection goes back to the museum of comparative sculpture championed by Viollet-le-Duc in the 1880s. The museum suits anyone interested in architecture, sculpture or French cathedrals.