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Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Europe’s largest repository of modern art may not have fulfilled former President Pompidou’s mission to make Paris a center of modern art that rivals New York, but nonetheless it’s become a highly popular and important museum. The form-follows-function haute industrial design, by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, shook up Paris when it emerged on the edge of Les Halles in the late ’70s, but today it has an almost kitschy charm. Plan a full day to see the museum’s collection of contemporary works from 1905 to the present—from Primitivism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism to the postwar period, when American artists came to dominate the international scene. There’s a first-rate photography collection, including works by Brassaï, Man Ray, Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Service at Georges, the top-floor restaurant with a dramatic contemporary dining room, can be snippy, but it’s worth putting up with it for superlative views, and it’s ideal for lunch. Closed Tuesday. Métro: Rambuteau, Les Halles or Hôtel de Ville.

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This year’s Monumenta, a new contemporary art program launched at Paris’ Grand Palais last year, will feature American artist Richard Serra. The legendary sculptor was asked to create a new work for the Palais’ monumental nave, which covers 775,000 square feet. The resulting Promenade consists of five massive steel sculptures; each rises 56 feet into the air and weighs more than seventy tons. They are all differently angled , transforming the Palais into a brilliant spectacle of shifting shadows throughout the day. Another Serra’s work can also be viewed in the Jardin des Tuileries: Clara-Clara (named after the artist’s wife) is a piece that consists of two C-shaped steel slabs, whose curving lines are perfectly placed so that you see the Concorde’s Obelisk looking through the sculpture on one side and the Musée du Louvre on the other.

Monumenta at the Grand Palais opened on May 7 and ran through June 15, 2008. Closed Tuesday.

The fascinating 140-room museum, located in a 16th-century mansion, shouldn’t be missed. Converted to a museum in 1866 by Baron Haussmann, the man responsible for rebuilding much of central Paris in the 19th century, the museum is focused on the history of Paris in the broadest sense—its collections include everything from wooden punts used by the Parisii, the tribe that inhabited the islands in the Seine before the Romans arrived, to a re-creation of Marcel Proust’s decidedly odd cork-lined bedroom (he insisted on silence when he worked). Closed Monday. Métro: St.-Paul.

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Though some visitors may miss the old Jeu de Paume museum, which housed a vast trove of Impressionist works in an elegant stone pavilion in the Tuileries, there’s no denying the success of the Musée d’Orsay, housed in a converted limestone railroad station on the banks of the Seine. Everything that was in the Jeu de Paume is on display here, including Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, several Monet canvases of the Rouen cathedral and many lovely Degas paintings of ballerinas. As is so often the case in France, the museum’s genesis was political: President Giscard d’Estaing conceived of the idea originally, but the museum was not completed before he left office, so his successor, François Mitterrand, decided to create a museum that celebrated the arts during a particular time period—1848 to 1914—to coincide with the rise of socialism in France. Italian architect Gae Aulenti’s transformation of the soaring main hall of the station has resulted in a setting that scrupulously respects the building’s history (it was built in 1900 to welcome the crowds arriving for the Universal Exposition), down to leaving train tracks in the floor, and provides a stunning backdrop to display sculpture. Upstairs, don’t miss the views of the Seine from behind the two huge clocks from the original station. Closed Monday. Métro: Solférino or RER Musée d’Orsay.

This extraordinary collection covers the 17th century to today, including haute couture by Paul Poiret and Elsa Schiaparelli. On view through April 2008: an exhibition of Christian Lacroix.

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The best way to see the Louvre—its 35,000 works of art and some twelve miles of walkways can be overwhelming—is in short, enjoyable visits. The first time I visited the museum, as an eleven-year-old, in 1972, my mother had compiled a cheat sheet of the things she wanted her four children to see. Before arriving, she explained that the museum was the former residence of the French royal family and that it became a museum in 1793, after the French Revolution.

Mom’s list works just as well today as it did thirty-five years ago. Starting at the Porte des Lions entrance, here’s what not to miss: The museum’s two most famous paintings, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Véronèse’s massive Wedding Feast at Cana, are just inside the door. Then, visit three more da Vinci masterpieces (Madonna of the Rocks; Saint Jean-Baptiste; The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne)as well as Giotto’s St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, Mantegna’s Saint Sébastien and Caravaggio’s magnificent Fortune Teller. Among the many exquisite French paintings in the museum, Ingres’ La Grande Odalisque and Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa are standouts. And don’t miss the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a headless second-century Greek statue at the top of the museum’s grand staircase, and Michelangelo’s sculptures Dying Slave and Captive Slave.

Tip: Some rooms close on a rotating weekly basis, so if you’re desperate, say, to see the Egyptian collections, check the museum’s Web site to make sure the rooms are open the day you visit. Avoid the crowds at the museum by going at night; the Louvre has late hours Wednesday and Friday, from 6 p.m.to 9:45 p.m. Another option is the Paris Museum Pass; the two-day, unlimited-entry pass sells for about $40, and gives access to the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Picasso Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Rodin Museum and more. It can be purchased at participating museums and at the Paris tourist office at 25 Rue des Pyramides; 011-33-8-92-68-30-00. Closed Tuesday. Métro: Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre or Louvre Rivoli.

Great guides for crash course tours: French Links and Context or Paris Muse with kids. They should all be able to secure advance entry tickets too.

Indagare Tip: Book a lunch or dinner reservation at the Café Marly for a great meal with a view of the Pyramids.

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Though the jury’s still out on the museological validity of Paris’s newest museum—it was conceived by President Jacques Chirac as a showcase for art from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, with the implicit message that it’s every bit as worthy and stirring as anything found in the Louvre—Parisians are warming to architect Jean Nouvel’s elaborate $300 million building on the banks of the Seine. It’s a rather complicated set of buildings, with a curious mix of pavilions, hanging gardens, sleek glass walls, louvered steel facades and walkways, but there’s no denying the magic of the 3,500 objects on display, including African masks, totem poles and Aboriginal art. Les Ombres, the museum’s glass-ceilinged restaurant, has gorgeous views of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine, and the contemporary French food by chef Arno Busquet is good if pricey; reservations are a must. Closed Monday. Métro: Iéna, Alma-Marceau, Pont de l’Alma, Bir-Hakeim.

Far from the madding crowds, in a tree-shaded corner of the affluent 16th arrondissement, is one of my favorite museums in Paris. It has the world’s largest collection of Monets (seventy works, most of which were left to the museum by Monet’s son Michel), and the hunting lodge turned museum is intimate, quiet and contemplative— exactly what a museum should be. You’ll often have it practically all to yourself. Closed Monday. Métro: La Muette.

Just a few doors down from the Sorbonne, in the Latin Quarter, this museum is devoted to the Middle Ages, and has such treasures as the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and illustrated manuscripts, including “The Ascension of Christ.” Adjacent to the museum—a rare example of late-15th-century Gothic architecture in Paris—you’ll find atmospheric ruins of the Roman baths, the best-preserved ancient site in Paris and a wonderful spot to take children to give them a sense of the city’s long history. Closed Tuesday. Métro: St.-Michel, Cluny–La Sorbonne, Odéon.

This museum in a 17th-century mansion in the Marais houses the more than 3,500 of Picasso works that the French state acquired in lieu of inheritance taxes after the artist’s death, in 1973. Closed Tuesday. Métro: Saint Paul, Saint-Sébastien Froissart or Chemin Vert.

Across the street from Les Invalides, the Rodin museum is the perfect last stop after an art-filled day. Situated in a villa that was completed in 1730 and surrounded by some of the finest gardens in Paris, it’s ideal for a rest and some fresh air. In addition to Rodin’s bold bronzes and works in stone, the museum displays his private art collection, including works by Renoir, Monet, van Gogh and Camille Claudel, the sculptor with whom Rodin had a turbulent relationship. Closed Monday. Métro: Varenne, Invalides or St.-François-Xavier.