No. 6 Lesser Known Museums

My first visit to Paris was in August, 1983, and since then, I have been there many, many times. Often I would go to the famous museums - Louvre, d’Orsay, Pompidou, especially if I was with someone who hadn’t been there. So this trip I decided to focus on some of the smaller, less well known museums that are throughout the city. They are less crowded, often free, and usually you can  just walk in without a reservation. Unless you’ve been to the Louvre, you can’t appreciate what it takes to get in -  the reserved time slot, cost, and line to enter, and when you get to the Mona Lisa, it is this little picture at the end of a very large hall with literally hundreds of people between you and her unless you get there first thing in the morning. 

One of the more interesting  small museums I visited was the Liberation of Paris Museum, which is housed in the  actual building that the French Resistance used as its headquarters when Paris was liberated from the Germans. Through pictures and videos, it shows how the resistance operated during the 4 year German occupation, how the liberation unfolded, and it allows you to take a tour of the bomb shelter deep below the building, which is why it was selected as the headquarters. I was planning to visit  the bomb shelter until  the guide said there were 100 steps down and 100 steps  back up. If I did that, my knees would be shot for  days! 

What most people don’t realize is that after the D-Day invasion,  there were no plans for the Allies to liberate Paris from the Germans. In fact, it was felt there was no strategic value  to the liberation and that the  resources needed to liberate Paris would significantly slow down the effort to cross eastern France, enter Germany, and end the war. However, word reached Eisenhower that unless the allies could liberate Paris,  the German commander had been ordered to blow up the city as the Germans left, but he was willing not to do it and surrender if the allies  could get there quickly. In addition, there was significant infighting between several factions of the resistance - supporters of DeGaulle  and communists especially, and DeGaulle wanted to take control before a civil war broke out. So on August 25, 1944, allied forces, led  by French General LeClerc, entered Paris, secured it.  and placed DeGaulle’s troops in charge. This led to DeGaulle becoming the leader of France after the war. 

Interesting fact: the statue outside of the museum, the Lion of Belfort, was sculpted by Auguste Bartholdi who also designed Liberty Enlighten the World - more commonly known as the Statue of Liberty.