Paris Museum of Music
The impressive Cite de la Musique opened to rave reviews in 1995. The musical complex features a 1200-seat performance center. However, when it opened the Cite was not finished. The final piece of the puzzle was the Museum of Music. After 15 years of planning the museum was opened to the public. Its collection, from the National Conservatory of Music comprises some 4,500 musical instruments, although only about 800 are on display at any one time.

There are representative instruments from earlier times (a flute made of vulture bone from around 2,500 B.C.) and faraway places (delicate harplike instruments from Africa). But, in essence, the museum recounts the history of European music as seen through French eyes. In order to highlight the museum's collections, regular concerts and lectures and various cultural events take place in the 230-seat auditorium.