The European Heritage Days, held on 19 and 20 September 2026, gave thousands of visitors the chance to explore the Paris Observatory – PSL, and in particular its Meudon site, which this year celebrates 150 years of astronomy.
It was in 1876, on the initiative of the astronomer Jules Janssen, that Meudon became a site dedicated to the study of the stars, gradually acquiring instruments that were as impressive as they were innovative. In 1927, the Meudon site was incorporated into the Paris Observatory, founded in 1667 during the reign of Louis XIV and the world’s oldest observatory still in operation.
150 years later, the scientific adventure continues : the Meudon campus remains a major centre for astrophysics research and the development of instrumentation for major space missions, where historic instruments and cutting-edge technologies coexist.
