The Museum is one of several located in the Palais de Chaillot, just across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
This great French Naval Museum contains thousands of treasures, which stand as a monument to French sea power and French ventures on the sea. The Museum illustrates not only the Navy and Merchant Marine, but also fishing fleets, yachting, and pleasure craft.
Some of the models in its vast collection are hundreds of years old. Among the historic ship models is the Gloire, the first steam-driven battleship in the world.
In a permanent sports exhibition every phase of sport is represented, from international races for seagoing yachts to underwater exploration.
There are works by well-known and little-known artists and craftsmen, including a series of paintings by Joseph Vernet (1765) known as the "Ports of France", offering a colorful panorama of French naval life in the 18th
century.In the lower gallery are examples of work produced in French dockyards, liners, cargo and mail boats, pleasure and fishing boats, including a 25-foot-long sectional view of the transatlantic liner Normandie.
A unique collection given to the museum by Admiral Paris consists of exotic models from distant shores.
Many relics of the great French navigators, who carried the French flag all over the world across uncharted seas, are on view.
One of the most impressive displays is the Canot Imperial, the long white barge adorned with gold, used by Napoleon to enter the harbor of Antwerp, and afterwards, in the Second Empire, by Empress Eugnie when she visited Brest. This 56-foot-long vessel was powered by 28 oars.
On the wall nearby are the carvings from the Royal Galley La Real, arranged in their correct relative positions. Even though the galley no longer exists, one can gain an impression of its size looking up at the carvings.