Culture in Paris for Museum Phobics

• Street Art, when art goes outside
• Historical basements
• Remembering major celebrities
• Culture and lifestyle spots
• Houses to visit

In Paris there are plenty of chances to spot street art: the huge frescoes in the 13th district (rue Jeanne d'Arc and boulevard Vincent Auriol), in some neighbourhoods of eastern Paris (rue Oberkampf, rue de Ménilmontant, at the Carré de Baudoin pavilion), and near Belleville Park. Near the Halles, don’t forget to look up.

If you take a bike ride along the Canal de l'Ourq, from La Villette to Saint-Denis, you’ll be going down Street Art Avenue!

In Paris there’s even a "University" showcasing a collection of works of street art: Art 42. (96, boulevard Bessières, 75017) 

If you want to try your hand at Street Art, go to l'Aérosol, a place that’s a bit “underground” where you can buy cans of spray paint and play around with them over drinks while watching actual street artists at work. (54 Rue de l'Évangile, 75018)

In the Paris area, Vitry-sur-Seine is considered Street Art Central.

You can learn some history by exploring basements in Paris!

Not afraid of the dark? Always up for a fright? No problem, Paris has got just the thing! You can visit the catacombs to see skulls, or explore the sewers of Paris.

The cellars under the Louvre have been converted into an interactive wine-themed space!

Head to Montparnasse cemetery to place a metro ticket on Serge Gainsbourg’s grave. Take a walk around Père Lachaise cemetery and weave your way through to see final resting places, wonky gravestones and ancestral family tombs: Jim Morison, Balzac, Molière, Oscar Wilde, Montand and Signoret and more.

The cemeteries of Paris are like open-air “museums”!

Perhaps your idea of art is all about up-and-coming artists, to be enjoyed over drinks, at a concert or event? If so, you’ll love the Centquatre and the Gaité lyrique!

The Centquatre

This space combines living space, production and broadcasting space for audiences and artists from all over the world. I must admit that put that way it sounds a bit pompous.  This place is all about contemporary art, open to the whole world, which also features a really nice bar, a cool restaurant and even a pizza truck, an Emmaüs charity shop where you can pick up bargains, and also exhibitions, concerts, shows and a trendy bookshop. You can also take part in art workshops, do Qi Gong, simply relax, listen to vinyl records, go dancing and more.

5 rue Curial - 75019 Paris
Open from Tuesday to Friday from 12 am to 7 pm and at weekends from 11 am to 7 pm. Closed on Mondays and throughout August.

Perhaps you like personalised interiors, the artist’s workshop feel, museums that truly have character? Paris is brimming with museums housed in furnished homes, which have held onto their style of bygone days!

Apartments, houses and artists’ workshops have been converted into museums: the apartment of Edith Piaf (5, rue Crespin du Gast 75011, free to visit by appointment: 01 43 55 52 72); the apartment of Louis Pasteur (25 rue du Dr Roux – 75015 -Tel.: 01 45 68 82 83); the homes of writers such as Victor Hugo and Balzac; workshops of artists such as the painter Gustave Moreau or the sculptor Zadkine, etc.