How to visit UNESCO's headquarters, a modern architectural masterpiece in Paris?

With its striking three-branch star-shaped building, UNESCO’s Paris headquarters stands as one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks. Inside lie an exceptional art collection, a Japanese garden, and several spaces normally reserved for diplomats. A look back at the history of this iconic site and the ways to visit it!

Just steps from the École militaire and the Champ-de-Mars, UNESCO's headquarters is the global hub of a United Nations agency devoted to education, science, culture and the preservation of heritage.

Inaugurated in 1958, this modernist building has, over the decades, become a symbol of international cooperation, as well as a genuine indoor museum of contemporary art.

A building designed by the 20th century's leading architects

Created in 1945, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) set up its permanent headquarters in Paris a few years later. After several provisional locations, a design competition was launched to build a building capable of embodying the values of dialogue and peace that the institution defends.

The building was inaugurated on November 3, 1958 at 7 Place de Fontenoy, in the 7ᵉ arrondissement. Its design was entrusted to three internationally renowned architects: Bernard Zehrfuss, Marcel Breuer and Pier Luigi Nervi, under the supervision of a committee that notably included Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Lucio Costa.

The result is spectacular: a main building shaped like a Y, often nicknamed "the three-armed star," resting on 72 concrete piles. The complex is completed by 3 other buildings of very different forms, including the famous Hall I, recognizable by its copper, pleated roof, where the member states of the Organization convene.

A Contemporary Art Museum at the Heart of an International Institution

From the outset, the organization aimed to make its headquarters a place where art engages in dialogue with architecture. Today, the site houses more than 1,000 works created by some of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Visitors can notably admire works by Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, and Mircea Cantor.

The artworks are spread across the halls, corridors, gardens and reception spaces, turning the headquarters into a true museum. Among the most remarkable spaces is also the Japanese garden designed by sculptor Isamu Noguchi, a true pause of calm in the middle of the complex. More recently, a meditation room designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando has enriched this architectural heritage.

At the heart of many international decisions

The Paris headquarters plays host to the UNESCO's flagship conferences, sessions of the General Conference and the Executive Board, as well as numerous diplomatic meetings focused on safeguarding world heritage, press freedom, education, and scientific research.

This is also where UNESCO World Heritage Site nominations are reviewed, even though the final decisions are made by the World Heritage Committee during its sessions held in different countries. The building also hosts year-round visits from heads of state, researchers, artists, and representatives from nearly 200 member states.

Can you visit UNESCO's headquarters?

Yes, and contrary to a common belief, it is possible to discover UNESCO's headquarters outside the European Heritage Days. The organization offers guided tours of about 1h30, by reservation, allowing visitors to explore the main areas of the complex. Visitors discover the building's architecture, the artworks, the Japanese garden, the meditation room as well as the functioning and missions of UNESCO.

The venue also swings its doors wide open for the European Night of Museums and the European Heritage Days, with free animations, specific tours and access to spaces rarely open to the public. Throughout the year, the building also hosts a number of exhibitions, talks, concerts and screenings open to the public by registration!

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