Address:
1 rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard
Phone:
01 40 51 38 38
Hours:
Tues to Sun
10:00am to 6:00pm
Official Site
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Overview Inside Tips
 Perhaps the Arab World Institute would not be an obvious choice for tourists first visiting Paris. After all, Paris has many world-famous monuments and museums illustrating centuries of French contributions to both culture and architecture. Still, a spare hour or two should be saved for this relatively new museum, opened in 1987 along the Seine River near the University of Jussieu. The building itself is unique, architecturally representing concepts of both the Orient and the Occident and constructed of glass and aluminum. There are 240 moucharabiehs (adjustable circular openings) on the southern façade, which open and close electronically as they adjust to the outside brightness.
You’ll see these as you tour the museum’s three floors, traveling from the seventh floor to the sixth and then on to the fourth (it skips the fifth). Stairs within the museum connect
the three floors, while glass elevators take visitors to the ticket and information booths on level zero and lavatories on level negative one. Street level is on the first floor. It sounds a bit confusing, but once on the seventh floor the exhibit is easy to navigate - although the only source of information for those hopelessly inept at French is an English-language pamphlet. As in many museums, all exhibit inscriptions are in French.
More than 600 items illustrate the history an art of the Arabic-Islamic World, including sculpture, ceramics, carpets and more. Don’t miss the collection of astrolobes, “mathematical jewels” demonstrating the development of Arab science during the Middle Ages. These shiny gold discs appear to hang as if suspended in thin air. Also save time for the collection of carpets of every color and design hanging on the fourth floor.
There are three restaurants at the AWI - Le Ziryab and a cafeteria called Le Moucharabieh, on the ninth floor, and Cafe Litteraire on the ground level. A gift shop and a library open to the public round out this unique experience in learning about the Arab world.
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