Musée de la Magie (Magic Museum)

Unusual Paris Museums and Galleries

Georges Proust’s Museum of Magic is in the Marais district, and the museum itself is housed below ground in ancient vaulted chambers built of stone. There are magical antiques, interactive illusions (around 15 interactive "curiosities") and magical devices in the subterranean museum, reached via a stairway down from street level.

Your visit starts off in a small theatre with a 20 minute live magic show in French, but there’s no problem knowing what’s going on – in fact, the language barrier helps you concentrate on the tricks!

After this you go into the the museum area proper where a guide talks about the history of magic and the museum, but if you’re not fluent in French give this a miss and get a head start into the exhibits, which are fascinating. I particularly liked the optical illusion machines, but watch out for the weird and wonderful devices used by fake spritualists to conjure up "ghosts" at their séances!

Tip: You can get a booklet in English at the ticket desk for €1 that provides a history of magic and a brief overview of the collection.

Here’s a short account of a visit in 2005 by a Washington Post writer

They had an exhibition about Houdini on for the bicentenary of his birth.

Musée de la Magie (Magic Museum)
11, rue saint Paul, Paris 75004
Tél: 01 42 72 13 26 fax :33 (1) 45 36 01 48
Email : contact@museedelamagie.com
Website: http://www.museedelamagie.com/ (French)

Métro: 1,4,5,7: Saint-Paul / Bastille Sully- Morland
Bus: 67, 69, 76, 86, 87 informations
Open: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm all year. Open every day during the school holidays (except those of July and August)
Entry: Adults €7 Children €5

Next page : Musée de la Mode et du Costume de la Ville de Paris (Fashion Museum)

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