The Grande salle Pierre Boulez (Symphonic Hall) boasts innovations in architecture, stage design and acoustical engineering. Thanks to a modular design, its capacity increases from 2400 people in the symphonic configuration to 3600 when the parterre is converted into a standing room area.

All five levels of the Grande salle Pierre Boulez are accessed via the entrance on Level 3 of Philharmonie, which can be reached via stairways, escalators and two lifts, with direct access from the Porte de Pantin plaza and the Philharmonie parking facility.

From the entrance, stairways and lifts inside the hall take visitors to the various levels.

The Grande Salle Pierre Boulez has thirty designated seats for people with reduced mobility.

Choosing yout seats

For events with numbered seating, you can select your seats online, by telephone or in person when purchasing your tickets.

Next events in the Grande salle Pierre Boulez

The capacity of this modular hall increases from 900 people in the seated configuration to 1600 when the parterre is converted to a standing room area.

The Salle des concerts (Concert Hall) is located on the ground floor of the Cité de la musique and accessible with no stairs.

The Salle des concerts has ten designated seats for people with reduced mobility, located in the parterre.

Balcony and gallery seating is accessed via stairways.

Choosing your seats

For events with numbered seating, you can select your seats on line, by telephone or in person when purchasing your tickets.

Next events in the Salle des concerts

The 250-seat Amphitheatre is perfect for chamber music concerts, recitals or shows for children.

The Amphitheatre is located on the lower level of Cité de la musique. It is reached via a stairway and escalator from the main foyer of Cité de la musique.

The Amphitheatre has five designated seats for people with reduced mobility.

There is no reserved seating for Amphitheatre events.

Next events in the Amphithéâtre

The 200-seat Conference Hall accommodates conferences, seminars, meetings, screenings, public rehearsals and more.

The Conference Hall is located on Level 0 of Philharmonie. It is accessed via the garden level (Level 0).

The Conference Hall has five designated seats for people with reduced mobility.

Next events in the Conference hall

The 190-seat Studio provides optimal acoustic conditions for public rehearsals by orchestras. It is also used for pre-concert events, conferences and chamber music concerts. 

The Studio is located at Philharmonie. It is accessed via Level 3, which can be reached by lifts, escalators and stairways.

The Studio has six designated seats for people with reduced mobility.

Next events in the Studio

The programme is distributed free of charge at the entrance to concerts and shows. You can also download the programme from the event's page on our website 48 hours before the start of the concert or show.

Cloakrooms are available free of charge. The luggage and travel bags are not allowed in the auditorium or the cloakrooms.

Due to Covid-19, cloakrooms are closed until further notice.

A free audio guide is provided with admission to the Musée de la musique:

• audioguide in French, English and Spanish (adults and youth age 12 and up)
• audioguide in French and English for children (ages 6 to 12)

With admission, kids ages 6 to 11 also receive our 'Expedition in the land of instruments' activity book & pencil, to play at being explorers and museum curators. For youth and adults, a bilingual guide to the permanent collection helps you navigate the different areas and quickly locate key instruments and artworks. On arrival at the Musée de la musique you'll find the following in the reception area:

• a free cloakroom; (lugagge and travel bags are not allowed in cloakrooms.)
• stick-seats, wheelchairs, baby carriers and prams for hire, free of charge.

A free audio guide is provided with admission to the temporary exhibitions.

In the temporary exhibition reception area, you'll find the following:

• a free cloakroom (lugagge and travel bags are not allowed in cloakrooms.)
• stick-seats, wheelchairs, baby carriers and prams for hire, free of charge.

All levels of both buildings are served by lifts. Portable teleloops and magnifiers can be borrowed at the reception area. Guide dogs are welcome in the concert halls, as in the Musée de la musique and the exhibitions’ areas.

Two indoor picnic areas are available for groups:

• In the Rue musicale of the Cité de la musique
• In the Philharmonie’s Picnic Room (educational spaces - level 0)

These spaces are not subject to reservation (limited number of places).

If the weather is good, groups can also take advantage of the Parc de la Villette for picnics, discover the gardens and the many activities of our partners.

On the 6^th floor of the Cité de la musique - Philharmonie de Paris, the restaurant offers sweeping views of Paris and the Parc de la Villette. The restaurant and its terrace count 150 seats. L’Envol offers gourmet and healthy cuisine, conceived by Thibaut Spiwack, a starred chef and pioneer of sustainable gastronomy, and performed daily by his accomplice, chef Sarah Ledu.

Opening Hours

Open Wednesday to Saturday and on concerts’ evenings
From 18.30 to 23.15

Information and reservations

+33 (0)1 71 28 41 06 or online
reservation.lenvol@ssp.fr

@lenvol_restaurant

Opening hours

Open from Monday to Sunday from 11.00 to 17.00 (to 20.30 on evening concerts - Grande salle Pierre Boulez) 

An elegant setting beneath the portico, looking out at the plaza of the Fontaine aux Lions and facing the Grande Halle de la Villette.

Opening hours

Opened daily 

Informations and reservations

By phone: 01 89 89 12 34
Online: www.cafedelamusique.fr

The largest green space in Paris, the Parc de la Villette is dedicated to nature, culture, architecture, science and leisure.

Located in the 19^th arrondissement, on the site of the former abattoirs of La Villette, the Parc de la Villette stretches over 55 hectares, 33 of which are green spaces. Architect Bernard Tschumi gave it its current structure in 1979. A major cultural and entertainment venue in the north-east of Paris, the Parc de la Villette welcomes around ten million visitors a year.

• 1808 : Rural woodlands covered the current site of La Villette until the end of the 18th century. In 1808, the area was linked to Paris via an aqueduct that was turned into a navigable canal in 1825, called the Ourcq canal. In 1841, La Villette-Saint-Denis was physically separated from the Pantin commune with the construction of the Thiers wall, the last Parisian fortification that corresponds to today’s ring roads. In 1860, La Villette was integrated into the commune of Paris and became a part of the 19th arrondissement.
• 1867 : On Napoleon III’s command, the Paris City Council asked the Seine Prefecture to transfer the Poissy and Sceaux livestock markets inside city walls. The location chosen was the current Villette grounds and extensions, back then a vast rural zone barely integrated into the city of Paris. Architect Louis-Adolphe Janvier designed the slaughterhouses and the market, taking inspiration from Baltard, the creator of Les Halles in central Paris. A goods station soon sprung up next to the livestock market. The place becomes one of the capital’s economic hubs.La Villette’s slaughterhouses were among the city’s biggest employers. Besides the meat industry, there was the subproduct industry, mainly for leather. After Gavroche and Francisque Poulbot’s street urchins, northern Paris produced a third “hero”: the butcher-boy. Popular culture saw him as a gruff, big-hearted lad, a kind of executioner despite himself. Like much of the Parisian working-class, the butcher-boy hailed from the country (mostly from Auvergne, Aveyron and Limousin) and was a product of rural depopulation and the Industrial Revolution.
• 1949 : The Municipal Council decided it was time to renovate the slaughterhouses, which were now dilapidated, narrow and unhygienic, and whose pestilent smell afflicted the surrounding residential areas. But funding was slow to come. The design competition was only launched in 1955, and building only started four years later. The new complex, equipped with refrigerators that were very modern for the times, was partially inaugurated in 1969, even though it still lacked a sales room. Meat transportation conditions having greatly improved with the advent of refrigerated trucks, it was no longer necessary to do the slaughtering in the marketplace. Purchasing plummeted and the activity fell into a deep recession, creating serious economic problems.
• 1974 : In 1967, the National Audit Office already condemned the huge cost overruns of the initial renovation price. The Senate got involved in 1970 and created an ad hoc commission whose report, made public in 1971, was devastating. The fate of the slaughterhouse and livestock market were now in the hands of the government, who decided close them down on March 15, 1974. The buildings - brand new and barely used - were torn down, leaving an industrial wasteland in their place.

• 1979 : Creation of the Etablissement Public du Parc de la Villette, an administrative organisation in charge of renovating the 55 hectares of industrial wasteland.
• 1982 : Organization of the Parc de la Villette design competition. Swiss-born French landscape architect Bernard Tschumi won the competition. The Parc de la Villette project was regarded as a meeting-point between urbanism and lifestyle, arts and sciences, Paris and its suburbs. La Villette took its place alongside the other great architectural projects launched by newly-elected president François Mitterrand.
• 1984 : Opening of the Zenith, designed by Philippe Chaix and Jean-Paul Morel. In 1981, the Minister of Culture decided to build a large-size concert hall for rock and pop music. The concept of a contemporary music concert hall turned into the Zénith de Paris. The Zénith has a capacity of 6,400 seats.
• January 1985 : Opening of the Grande Halle, an old livestock market renovated by Bernard Reichen and Philippe Robert. Inspired by Baltard’s Halles, the glass and steel building is used for events, fairs, exhibitions, etc.
• May 1985 : Opening of the Géode, France’s biggest movie theatre with a 1000 m² hemispheric dome screen. It was designed by Adrien Fainsilber and Gérard Chamayou according to the geodesic architectural principles of Richard Buckminster Fuller.
• 1986 : Opening of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie on March 13th, 1986 by the president of the French Republic, François Mitterrand. The opening was timed to occur during the encounter between Halley’s Comet and the Giotto European space probe. Adrien Fainsilber was the architect in charge of construction. The Cité des Sciences includes the Cité des Enfants, a children’s science museum, the Cité des Métiers (in partnership with ONISEP), the Cité de la Santé and a scientific media library .
• 1987 : Opening of the Parc de la Villette, designed by Bernard Tschumi. Its 35 hectares of green space make it Paris’ biggest park area. Dedicated to artistic expression, it hosts several street art and circus shows, free open-air cinema and major exhibitions.
• 1990 : Opening of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the nation’s first institution for higher education in music and dance. Leaving behind its cramped premises on the rue de Madrid, which had been its home since the early 20th century, the CNSMDP moved into La Villette on the Porte de Pantin side, near the Grande Halle. Although it was the Parc de la Villette’s first “cultural” building, institutionally it is its most ancient, since the “Conservatoire National de Musique” was founded August 3, 1795. It was designed by Christian de Portzamparc.
• 1995 : Opening of the Cité de la Musique, also designed by Christian de Portzamparc, shortly before the Conservatory’s 200th anniversary. Dedicated to the performance of all forms of erudite music, it is Paris’ first flexible hall for this kind of programming. A hub of the cultural information network, the facility contains concert halls, a large media library and an educational department. The Cité de la Musique also presents concert seasons, organised by cycle, alongside related temporary exhibitions.
• 1997 : Opening of the Musée de la Musique inside the Cité de la Musique. It houses one of the largest collections of musical instruments around the world.
• 2015 : Opening of the Philharmonie de Paris.