Yes, this website is in French. However, it's relatively easy to navigate if either you use a newish version of Google Chrome and click the "Translate" button. Or if you can read some French 
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I, of course, am interested in the loads of pretty pictures. Take a look at the link for "Collections du Musee" and just go from there. There are quite a few rare instruments that can be found. Mainly French makes, of course, but they also have a Grafton (which was made in London and invented by an Italian) and a Buescher (which was made in America by an American), so it's a little ... eclectic.
They have a Flash-based picture viewer and some of the pictures are QUITE large, such as those for the very rare Leblanc Le Rationnel and the rather rare Semi-Rationnel (I just finished a page on these, that's how I found the website).
There is a good deal of research material there, links to music, full scores and lots of other great stuff. I kinda wish I could read French a tad better.
http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr
.I, of course, am interested in the loads of pretty pictures. Take a look at the link for "Collections du Musee" and just go from there. There are quite a few rare instruments that can be found. Mainly French makes, of course, but they also have a Grafton (which was made in London and invented by an Italian) and a Buescher (which was made in America by an American), so it's a little ... eclectic.
They have a Flash-based picture viewer and some of the pictures are QUITE large, such as those for the very rare Leblanc Le Rationnel and the rather rare Semi-Rationnel (I just finished a page on these, that's how I found the website).
There is a good deal of research material there, links to music, full scores and lots of other great stuff. I kinda wish I could read French a tad better.
http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr