Paris, Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum housed in a grand railway station built in 1900. The railway station was planned by the Compagnie d'Orléans, who wanted to bring electrified trains into Paris. Victor Laloux, the architect integrated metal vault in the stone exterior. The hall measures 140 metre long, 40 metre wide and 32 metre high and was out of use as a train station in 1939. In 1978 French president Giscard d'Estaing decided to use the gare d'Orsay as a museum for 19th and 20th century art. It covers a period from mid 19th century till mid 20th centuries and contains works from Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and others.