It's incredible how much you can see in a few days even when you have no plan at all. And surprisingly, it is possible without being in hurry or checking your watch all the time. This might come naturally to you, but to me it was a new experience 😊 Usually, I plan our trips in great detail as I like to know what's coming next, but having a bit of flexibility in the schedule is not bad at all.
It was a cold rainy morning and we didn't feel like walking around, so we were going from one bistro to another. However, you can only drink that much tea, and at some point we obviously wanted a change. We saw some groups of people gathering at one building, so we went to check it out. Suddenly, we were standing in the middle of a courtyard with a large statue of Louis XIV, also known as the Sun king.
It didn't take us long to realize that this was some kind of a museum, but we haven't had any idea yet what we would find there. We entered the building and learned that it's The Carnavalet- History of Paris museum. We got excited as we both love history, and guess what, the entrance was free! It was our lucky weekend as we saw many places and didn't pay any entrance fees.
We had no idea how huge it was and that we would spend half a day there. But it was worth it even though at some point I couldn't pay attention any longer, so I just looked around and enjoyed the magnificent space.
The museum is situated in Le Marais which is a densely built area, so there are no views other than the views of the museum buildings, but who doesn't like to look at such architecture?
Here we can see a typical French garden. It all looks like a maze to me and I'm not a big fan of the tiny particles on the ground as they fly all over when it's a bit windy. Those who visited the gardens of Versailles know what I'm talking about.
Another popular French king also known as Good king Henry was Henry IV whose statue is set in one of the museum walls.
Let's see what is waiting for us inside!
The Carnavalet museum is not only the oldest museum in Paris, but it is situated in one of the oldest mansions of Le Marais. It's a great example of Renaissance architecture with richly decorated rooms with luxurious details such as lots of gold everywhere you look and crystal chandeliers handing in every room.
The museum is focusing on collecting objects that belonged to important persons in the history of Paris. They have also accepted many donations. Since there are so many interesting objects spread across 4 floors I focused on admiring them, but I didn't spend too much time gathering information as I didn't find it relevant. Let's say that I got absorbed in the beauty around me.
Everything was so grand and overwhelming that we kept getting 'lost'. We had a map of the museum, but there were so many doors leading to various time periods that it was easy to forget what we've already seen, so I'm convinced that we saw some parts at least twice, but I'm also convinced that there are parts that we didn't see at all.
The decoration in every room reminded us of the French royal families - delicate tapestries, richly decorated furniture and walls, lots of marble, high quality floors, and more and more.
Wood panelling was one of the essential features of wealthy homes in the 17th century. This wall decoration comes from a private collection and it features many strange creatures. It's beautiful when you look at it quickly, but it's rather weird when you start to study the detail.
The hallways are so simple that it looks like they didn't belong to the museum...
This is a great way to hide a stove, but it's not too practical as it's made out of wood, so I guess that someone always had to watch the fire.
When I see pink walls I instantly think of a princess 😊
All these quarters had pastel colours which was such a strong contrast to the grand rooms with full reds and blues.
This salon is showing the colonial times, and the wall paintings are depicting dramatic events of this period. I like the red ribbon going through the length of the wall.
There are plenty of paintings and when I see this photo I'm so happy that we didn't go to Louvre as I find so many paintings everywhere rather boring.
The Luynes staircase was built in 1910 and it's decorated with much older murals from the former Hôtel de Luynes. It's a grand staircase that leads to the first floor of the museum.
I have noticed beautiful floral wall decorations, so let's see a few of them...
So far I have showed you mainly the rooms, but there are also plenty of objects from the city's history. Here are some pharmaceutical items.
Maybe you prefer some modern art...
I fell in love with that pear!
The original door to the Town hall was destroyed in fire in the 17th century. The new door is decorated with medusas who in mythology had the power of turning everyone who looks at her into stone.
Some mementos of the Olympic games in 1924...
A model of Bastille which used to be a prison and it's one of the most important symbols of the French revolution.
This desk belonged to the last king of France Louis-Phillipe. It's an original piece that was damaged near the locks by the revolutionaries.
And with that we're coming to the end of our tour today. The museum Carnavalet is a great place not only if you're a fan of history, but also if you admire art and architecture. It's a great place to visit!
See you next time!