Les Machines de l'Île

Les Machines de l'Île is one of the most extraordinary urban attractions in France — an ongoing art project on the former Île de Nantes shipyards that has produced enormous mechanical animals you can actually ride. The Grand Éléphant, a 12-metre steel and wood elephant that carries passengers on its back through the former industrial yard, has become the symbol of Nantes. The Carrousel des Mondes Marins, a three-storey rotating sea-monster carousel, is equally extraordinary.

The project is inspired by Jules Verne, who was born in Nantes in 1828, and by Leonardo da Vinci's fantastical mechanical drawings. The overall concept imagines a world where the natural history of the planet had been different, and the machines are its fauna. New creatures continue to be built in the gallery space, which visitors can watch under construction. Children love it completely; adults tend to lose themselves in it too.

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The Grand Éléphant, completed in 2007, is 12 metres tall, weighs 45 tonnes, and is made from over 60 tonnes of steel and wood. It can carry 49 passengers on its back and ears simultaneously, walks through the former shipyard at a stately pace, sprays water from its trunk, and makes sounds designed from recordings of real elephants. It was designed by François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice, who cite Jules Verne and Leonardo da Vinci as their main influences.