The museum was founded in 1866, when Haussmann’s new plan for Paris was causing old buildings to be demolished. Some of the most notable interiors and other decorative details of these dwellings were saved and collected here, in the Hôtel Carnavalet. Other items soon followed. The museum is a long and winding place, and just when one thinks everything has been seen, one turns a corner and find something else. Most recently, quite a stir was made by the discovery of two Neolithic canoes near Bercy. The canoes, transported to the museum, now rest in the airy, bright Orangerie for all to marvel at. The collections also feature interesting, illustrative signs from 17th-19th century shops, paintings of the city from the Renaissance through the mid-20th century. Famous woman of letters Madame de Sévigné lived at the Hôtel Carnavalet with her daughter in the late 1600’s, and her former’s desk and a few of her letters, are to be found here, too. The collection on the Revolution and its aftermath is quite impressive, and even features a model of the Bastille Prison and a card table that were both made from stones of the actual Bastille. There are also items from Louis XVI and his family’s last days in the Temple Prison. The toy soldiers and penmanship notebooks that belonged to his young son the Dauphin are especially moving.

But the Musée Carnavalet’s collections don’t just include things one might expect. Look into a display case in the large room on the ground floor to see typical items found in storefront windows…and a grisly display from an 18th century glassblower’s shop that features four small, decaying stuffed monkeys in miniature human dresses. Or feast your eyes on a model depicting Louis-Philippe’s visit to the Hotel de Ville, featuring hundreds of miniature hand-made observers. And don’t miss models of the guillotine made out of human bone, or the bedroom where Marcel Proust wrote most of "In Search of Lost Time" (the walls are still lined in cork so he’d have complete silence), not to mention the room where Surrealist Paul Léautaud once laid his head, surrounded by his beloved cats (a wicker cat carrier is near the foot of the bed). With all this, and so much more, the Musée Carnavalet makes for a very interesting, refreshing, and unexpected visit. Just don’t get too freaked out by those monkeys!

The Musée Carnavalet is open every day except Monday’s. A visit to the extensive, often eccentric, permanent collection is free! So run out there, and discover this fascinating museum dedicated to Paris History!