France Miniature is a miniature park

Miniature park

A miniature park is an open space that displays miniature buildings and models, and is usually open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village, or it can contain a number of different sets of models...

 tourist attraction in Élancourt

Élancourt

Élancourt is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris 30.6 km from the center, in the "new town" of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.-Transport:...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 featuring scale models of major French landmarks and monuments in an outdoor park.

Description

France Miniature is a 5-hectare (12-acre) outdoor park in the shape of France that contains about 160 outdoor 1/30-scale models of major French monuments and landmarks. Monuments are placed in the park to correlate approximately with their real-world locations in France. Many of the models are animated, and all of the country's best known landmarks are represented (the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...

, Versailles

Versailles

Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

, Lourdes

Lourdes

Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...

, etc.). A system of model trains runs through the park, and animated boats ply the “Atlantic Ocean” and the “Mediterranean Sea” (lagoons positioned appropriately around the perimeter of the park). Visitors walk along paved paths to visit the various models.

An indoor exhibition features extremely detailed models of several indoor scenes.

The park is closed during the winter.

France Miniature is owned by the same group (Grévin & Cie.) that operates the Parc Astérix

Parc Astérix

Parc Astérix is a theme amusement park in France, based on the stories of Asterix . Situated approximately north of Paris and from Disneyland Resort Paris, in Plailly in the département of Oise, it opened in 1989...

amusement park north of Paris.

External links

• Official site (requires Macromedia Flash)
• Google Maps satellite view