The exhibits themselves are as varied and interesting as the building in which they are housed: mechanical and theoretical objects of all kinds abound, from impractical aircraft, cars and trains to Foucault’s pendulum, back from the Pantheon, where in 1851 the French physicist successfully proved the rotation of the Earth.

The Arts et Métiers quartier is delimited by Boulevard Saint Martin, the Rue Sébastopol and the Rue du Temple. It is riddled with tiny streets and dark timbered houses, each one of which seems to hold a wholesale business producing leather goods sold on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the most famous local market, the "Carreau du Temple".

The neighborhood is ethnically mixed: A synagogue graces the Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth and there is the flamboyant Gothic church Saint-Nicolas des Champs, built between 1420 and 1480, on the Rue Saint Martin.

There are some great restaurants in this neighborhood, and some have become very popular with the glitterati of the fashion world. Boutiques and bistros are crammed everywhere into old butcher and tailor shops. Otherwise, the architecture in some parts has remained unchanged since the 1600’s, and walking around this quartier is a calming and pleasant experience, particularly worthwhile in the morning when the bakeries are opening up.