A city of science and industry has risen here from unlikely ashes. When a slaughterhouse was built on the site in the 1960s, it was touted as the most modern of its kind. It was abandoned in 1974, and the location on the city's northern edge presented the government with a problem. What could be built in such an unlikely place? In 1986, the converted premises opened as the world's most expensive ($642 million) science complex, designed to "modernize mentalities" in the service of modernizing society.

The place is so vast, with so many exhibits, that a single visit gives only an idea of the scope of the Cité. Busts of Plato, Hippocrates, and a double-faced Janus gaze silently at a tube-filled riot of high-tech girders, glass, and lights. The sheer dimensions pose a challenge to the curators of its constantly changing exhibits. Some exhibits are couched in Gallic humor -- imagine using the comic-strip adventures of a jungle explorer to explain seismographic activity. Explora, a permanent exhibit, occupies the three upper levels of the building and examines four themes: the universe, life, matter, and communication. The Cité also has a multimedia library, a planetarium, and an "inventorium" for kids. The silver-skinned geodesic dome called La Géode -- a 34m- (112-ft.-) high sphere with a 370-seat theater -- projects the closest thing to a 3-D cinema in Europe and has several surprising additions, including a real submarine.

The Cité is in the Parc de La Villette, an ultramodern science park surrounding some of Paris's newest housing developments. This is Paris's largest park -- twice the size of the Tuileries. The playgrounds, fountains, and sculptures are all innovative. Here you'll find a belvedere, a video workshop for children, and information about exhibits and events, along with a cafe and restaurant.