The Bercy Arena is hosting the Olympic basketball and gymnastic events and the Paralympic wheelchair basketball events for the Paris 2024 Games. But this famous event venue is just one of the attractions of this district, which is full of great discoveries!
From the metro Bastille, look around you and begin your walk along the left and right banks of the Seine around Bercy
© Christophe Prévotat
Housed in a fine space at the Opéra Bastille, the Grand Palais Immersif seeks to provide visitors with unique artistic experiences. Here, art and digital innovation take centre stage in exhibitions where scenography, mediation, virtual reality, and augmented reality are the keywords. Venice, graffiti, artificial dreams… The exhibitions are impressive and appeal to the widest possible audience. To take the themes further and give art a new dimension, the venue has a programme of workshops and meetings.
© Amélie Dupont
The former railway line that used to link Bastille to Vincennes was given a whole new life in the 2000s. Now, along the former railway tracks, a planted promenade of around 5 km stretches from Bastille to the ring road at Porte de Montempoivre. This greenway takes walkers on an elevated path and enables them to cross the whole of the 12th arrondissement, passing between buildings, stopping to rest on benches surrounded by vegetation or in parks along the way.
At Bastille, the arches of the viaduct have been converted to showcase arts and crafts. Today, they house 52 workshops and shops of arts and crafts people. Decorators, cabinet makers, feather workers, stringed-instrument workers, glassblowers, a wide range of skills are present. It's a great place to stroll and shop goods made in the 12th.
Don't hesitate to hop on and off the viaduct using the staircases, to alternate an urban stroll with a green escape.
© Amélie Dupont
A few steps from the Arena, on Place Léonard Bernstein, you’ll find a one-of-a-kind museum. The Cinémathèque française with its rich collections of 40,000 films, documents, objects, decor, and costumes, the Cinémathèque française is a temple to the world of cinema. Through its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions at the Musée Méliès, talks, meetings, and workshops, it focuses on the history of cinema as well as great movie directors, and has a genuine mission to preserve, promote and restore.
This amazing building, which has the appearance of a ballerina pulling up her tutu, was designed in 1994 by the great American architect Frank Gehry who notably also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and la fondation Louis Vuitton.
© Pavillons de Bercy
Then wander through the Parc de Bercy to admire an array of gardens. Amidst the 350 vines - which still produce wine and evoke the area's wine-growing history, the Romantic Garden, the expansive lawns, the Maison du Jardinage, the water features and the converted wine storehouses - notably used as an exhibition centre - it's easy to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy the tranquility of nature before continuing your walk.
Next, head to the Pavillons de Bercy, converted wine storehouses – now listed historic mounuments, which house several event venues: the Théâtre du Merveilleux, the Salons Vénitiens, the Magic Mirror and the famous Musée des Arts forains. Only open during the school holidays, this enchanting, timeless place and museum of fairground arts takes visitors on a journey through the dreamlike world of the circus and the funfair.
© Rebecca Fanuele. La Fab. / collection agnès b., 2020
On the other side of the Seine are other notable cultural spots! Take Agnès B., for example. The famous fashion designer**, patron of the arts and art collector has opened her art centre in a 1,400 m² building, partly occupied by social housing. It is the site of a two-storey collection of contemporary art, as well as an exhibition space dedicated to the Galerie du Jour, which was one of the highlights of the Rue Quincampoix for two decades, and a bookshop. More than a mere exhibition centre, La Fab. provides information on the solidarity and environmental initiatives supported by the designer.
The 13th arrondissement has abundant street-art! Take a stroll along the Boulevard Vincent Auriol to see monumental artworks by DFace, Obey or C215.
© Thierry Ardouin Tendance Floue - BNF
This ensemble of buildings designed by architect Dominique Perrault is truly original! These four angular towers - the ‘Tower of Time’, the ‘Tower of Laws’, the ‘Tower of Numbers’ and the ‘Tower of Letters’ - built on an esplanade facing the Seine, represent open books. And with good reason: they house many of the 40 million documents collected over five centuries that make up the Bibliothèque Nationale de France - spread across 4 sites: François-Mitterrand, Richelieu, Arsenal and Opéra. Commissioned by François Mitterrand, this distinctive building opened to the public in 1996 and continues to host exhibitions, readings, lectures, shows and concerts. Whether you go there to admire the architecture, the countless kilometres of stacks or to consult the resources, this library is well worth a visit.
© Patrick Tourneboeuf - OPPIC - Tendance Floue
Stroll along the Seine quaysides to one of the loveliest gardens in Paris: Le Jardin des Plantes. This peaceful setting, designed over 400 years ago on the border between the 13th and 5th arrondissements of Paris, is not just a pleasant park: it is also home to the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. The site is made up of several different areas, offering a fascinating insight into the natural world, past and present. As you walk along the paths of the park, you'll discover: the Gallery of Evolution, the Gallery of Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology, the Menagerie and the tropical hothouses… There's a wealth of knowledge and discovery to marvel at for all visitors.
Just a few steps from the Jardin des Plantes is the Institut du Monde Arabe. This magnificent museum is well worth a visit, both for its majestic architecture by Jean Nouvel and Architecture-Studio and for its historical, cultural, and insightful exhibitions *57 rue Cuvier - 75005.
Feeling hungry after your walk? Embark on a gourmet cruise on one of the Diamant Bleu boats. In addition to enjoying a delicious meal, you'll be able to see Paris in a whole new way, from the Seine.
