While most people spend their time in Paris lining up for The Louvre, The Musee D’Orsay is the the less-popular younger sibling. In many ways I find Musee D’Orsay much more charming (but I have always had a thing for younger siblings).

First of all The Musée d’Orsay was originally a train station. Cool, huh? The magnificent glass-roofed, clock-bearing station was designed by Victor Laloux in 1900, and now houses a huge collection spanning the period between 1848 and 1914, including a profusion of works by Delacroix, Corot, Manet, Renoir, Pissarro, Gauguin, Monet, Caillebotte, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and others.

Musée d’Orsay stands alongside it’s sibling museums the Louvre and the Pompidou Centre, and is a must-see in Paris, especially the renowned upper levels, which recently gone through some serious renovations. The top floor is still devoted to Impressionism, while you’ll find Art Nouveau, decorative art, sculpture, Post and Neoimpressionism art, and Naturalism on the middle floors, including a section on Nabi. On ground level, the school of Barbizon, realism sculpture before 1870 and symbolism take pride of place.

I am a lover of the impressionist era, so my museum preference may be a bit biased. But Musée d’Orsay is truly amazing with its Belle Époque architecture and modern layout, and, of course, the magnificent impressionist works that you can admire within.