Among Rodin’s sculptures, ceramic art and expansive parks, Hauts-De-Seine offers different ways to experience culture and landscape. The Musée Rodin Meudon brings the interplay between an artist’s work and life into particularly clear focus: the house, studio and park form a shared visitor experience dedicated to Rodin’s sculptures and world.
Art, Craft and History
In the Galerie des plâtres, you can see sculptures at successive stages. The presentation makes it possible to follow different steps in Rodin’s creative process: instead of viewing only a finished work, you encounter its development through several stages. Rodin’s grave lies in the park, crowned by The Thinker and facing the Seine Valley. The Villa des Brillants also tells the story of Rodin’s life: he lived there during the last 20 years of his life. The Musée Rodin Meudon also runs art and cultural education projects for young people of all ages and backgrounds.
In Sèvres, you can discover ceramics from two perspectives. Sèvres – Cité de la Céramique produces art ceramics, reissues of historic models and contemporary works using traditional craft techniques. The Musée de la Céramique traces the history of ceramics around the world. In this way, the design and making of ceramics and their development through world history sit side by side as distinct but complementary perspectives.
Collections and Designed Parkland
The Musée départemental de Sceaux presents French taste through paintings, graphic arts, furniture and objets d’art. The Musée du Domaine départemental de Sceaux offers guided tours, workshops, courses and themed conferences; dates may vary. The cultural offer thus ranges from viewing artful collections to taking part in various forms of cultural programming.
The park in Sceaux can also be explored in its own way. The Domaine départemental de Sceaux covers 152 hectares; its vistas were designed by Le Nôtre. Visitors can take boats out on the Grand Canal. Whether this is possible depends on the weather and operating conditions. The park thus combines an expansive landscape with a specific activity whose availability is subject to certain conditions.
The Domaine national de Saint-Cloud covers 460 hectares, with gardens, fountains and sculptures. The Parc de Saint-Cloud has been listed as a historic monument since November 9, 1994. In a direct comparison of area, Saint-Cloud is a little more than three times as large as the 152-hectare Domaine départemental de Sceaux. The figures bring the difference between the two parks into focus, while their designs each have their own distinctive features.
Other parklands offer different combinations of nature and art. The Parc départemental des Chanteraines covers 82 hectares of lawns, valleys and woodland. A sculpture trail in the Parc départemental Gauthier Mougin passes around twenty works. Open landscapes and art in the park thus offer different kinds of discovery.
Exploring on Foot and by Bike
There are 29 walking circuits and cycling routes for exploring the département. Twelve cycling routes are graded by difficulty and are mostly 12 to 18 kilometres long. This information helps you distinguish between route types and, for the twelve cycling routes, take the length and stated difficulty into account when planning. In this way, routes and park visits complement cultural discoveries, without limiting you to just one way of exploring.
Discover more destinations: Vanves, Courbevoie, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, Villeneuve-La-Garenne, Ville-Dʼavray, Suresnes, Sèvres, Saint-Cloud, Rueil-Malmaison, Puteaux, Neuilly-Sur-Seine, Nanterre, Montrouge, Meudon, Malakoff, Levallois-Perret, Gennevilliers, Colombes, Clichy, Clamart, Chaville, Boulogne-Billancourt, Antony, Bois-Colombes, Bagneux, Bourg-La-Reine, Sceaux, Asnières-Sur-Seine, Châtillon, Fontenay-Aux-Roses, Châtenay-Malabry, Le Plessis-Robinson, Vaucresson, Garches, La Garenne-Colombes.
For the broader travel overview: Ile-De-France.
