The Institute, whose purpose is to make Arab civilisation more widely known, includes a museum, a library, a documentation centre and a sound and image area. This nave of glass and Jean Nouvel, is divided by a fault that runs to an interior courtyard in translucent marble. The southern façade is made of panels evoking blinds, which open and close to regulate the lighting. Do not miss the view from the terrace: the apse of Notre-Dame and St-Louis island.