Musée Curie

The Musée Curie is located in Paris's 5th arrondissement, not far from the Panthéon, where the discoverers Pierre and Marie Curie have been laid to rest since 1995. The museum is housed in the so-called Pavillon Curie, a complex that originally belonged to the Institut du Radium and opened in 1914, shortly before World War I. The architect Henri-Paul Nénot designed the complex between 1911 and 1914 in a restrained neoclassical style using brick and natural stone. Its large, north-facing window walls, which provided optimal light for the laboratory rooms, are a defining feature. Today the pavilion is operated jointly by the CNRS and the Institut Curie, which also manage the neighboring Pasteur and des Sources pavilions.

At the museum, you can trace the history of radioactivity and its first medical applications in radiotherapy. The historic heart of the exhibition is Marie Curie's preserved office and her personal chemistry lab. These rooms were decontaminated and reconstructed in the 1980s to make them accessible to the public. The collections include instruments, documents, archives, and photographs from the time of Marie Curie, André-Louis Debierne, and Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie. The latter two discovered artificial radioactivity in this laboratory in 1934, for which they received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The scientific displays are complemented by everyday objects that illustrate how society handled radioactive materials in that era.

The museum is recognized as a site of remembrance and education of national importance and bears the Maisons des Illustres label. On November 25, 2024, the building was listed as a historic monument, a step prompted by protests against planned demolition to make way for a new building. The protected status covers the facades, roofs, Marie Curie's office and laboratory, as well as the amphitheater and the adjoining garden areas. The Curie Campus, where the museum is located, also houses other research institutions in the exact sciences and provides a vibrant setting for the history of science.