Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d’Orsay is defined by the massive glass clock face visible on its facade and the sweeping iron-and-glass roof that arches over the building. Originally constructed as the Gare d’Orsay, this Beaux-Arts terminal was inaugurated for the nineteen hundred Universal Exposition to bring trains into the heart of Paris. The station served travelers for only a few decades before the arrival of longer trains made its platforms obsolete, leaving the structure to face a long period of decline and even the threat of demolition.