| The Petit Palais (closed for renovation until the autumn of 2005) is normally the site of major, changing exhibitions and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which at first sight seems to house a collection of leftovers, encompassing every period from the Renaissance to the 1920s, after the other main galleries have taken their pick. It does, however, hold some real gems: Monet's Sunset at Lavacourt and Boudin's Gust of Wind at Le Havre stand out against some rather uninspiring Renoirs, Morisots, Cézannes and Manets. There's a small collection of Dutch, Flemish and Italian Renaissance art, including an impressive selection of sixteenth-century ceramics. Other features of the collection include fantasy jewellery of the Art Nouveau period, effete eighteenth-century furniture, plaster models designed for the Madeleine church in the early nineteenth century, and vast canvases recording Paris's street battles during the 1830 and 1848 revolutions, trumpeting the victory of the Tricolour. The best of the major art exhibitions at the Grand Palais draw queues that stretch down avenue Churchill. Inside, the nave has been closed since 1993 awaiting restoration work but part of the Galeries Nationales space is still open for major exhibitions and the wing that houses the Palais de la Découverte science museum has not been affected. The museum (Tues–Sat 9.30am–6pm, Sun & hols 10am–7pm; €5.60, combined ticket with planetarium €8.65; M° Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau/Franklin-D.Roosevelt) has brightened itself up considerably since the Cité des Sciences arrived on the scene. It can't really compete, but it does have plenty of interactive exhibits, some very good temporary shows and an excellent planetarium.
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