Musée du Quai Branly

The Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac is the Paris museum devoted to the art and cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, in a striking building by Jean Nouvel beside the Seine and a short walk from the Eiffel Tower. Instead of rooms of labeled cases, the long, dimly lit gallery winds past masks, sculptures, textiles, instruments and ritual objects, with multimedia displays that bring them to life. A vertical garden covers the street-side wall, and the grounds are a calm, green break from the crowds nearby.

Opened in 2006, the Musée du Quai Branly was conceived as a museum of the world's non-Western cultures, and it shows in the way the permanent collection is presented. Architect Jean Nouvel designed a building that feels more like a sinuous landscape than a conventional gallery, set in a garden with ponds and trees along the quai it takes its name from. The pathway inside is deliberately winding and low-lit, which sets the masks, figures, textiles and instruments in a mood closer to a forest than to a classroom.

The permanent collection is divided by geography into Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and brings together an extraordinary range: carved Pacific ancestor figures, West African masks and bronzes, Aboriginal Australian paintings, North and South American feather work and textiles, and instruments from across Asia. Multimedia stations and projected films give context to ritual and daily life, and the labeling is thoughtful about how objects came to the museum, a topic the institution engages with directly.

The building and the grounds are also an attraction. On the street side, a vertical garden by the botanist Patrick Blanc covers a wall with thousands of plants, a green curtain that is striking from the sidewalk. The garden around the museum is open to walkers and offers a quiet green space within sight of the Eiffel Tower. A rooftop terrace and restaurant provide one of the nicest views of the tower in Paris, often with far fewer people than the viewpoints directly beneath it.

A visit takes about two hours, more if you linger over the temporary exhibitions, which cover anything from photography to indigenous art. It is open most days with a weekly closing day, so check before you go. Because it sits between the Eiffel Tower and the Seine, it combines easily with a Seine cruise, the Rodin Museum or a walk along the river. For anyone who has already seen the big European art museums, it is a refreshing, thought-provoking change of focus.

The museum rewards a slow pace. The long ramped path that leads into the permanent collection is deliberately dim, so give your eyes a minute to adjust and let the objects emerge from the dark. If time is short, pick one or two regions rather than trying to see everything.

The temporary exhibitions are often excellent and offer a different way into the collection, from photography to indigenous art. Afterwards, wander the garden, check the vertical wall from the street and take a break at the café or the rooftop restaurant before heading on to the Eiffel Tower or the Seine.