The museums "Sciences and Techniques"

The museum occupies a building of the Saint-Martin-des-Champs abbey, built in the 18th century. Deprived of its religious vocation during the Revolution, the abbey was dedicated to the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers from 1798. The museum of techniques opened to the public in 1802 thanks to Jacques Vaucanson who had offered to the king his automatons and thanks to the émigrés' possessions seized by the Revolution. 8000 objects illustrate the history of techniques and innovations from the 16th century until now : automations, machines, tools, laboratories relate the discoveries in chemistry (the echo room), in energy, in mechanics, in watch-making, in astronomy, in meteorology, in mathematics ( calculating machines), in telecommunications, in physics, in optics (microscopes). The former church of Saint-Martin-des-Champs shows suspended planes and the Stephenson's locomotive engine.