Musée de la Magie — the Museum of Magic
Musée de la Magie
11, Rue St Paul, 75004 Paris (Map)
Métro: Saint Paul
, Pont Marie
, Sully - Morland | Website
Welcome to one of the coolest and oddest attractions in all of Paris, le Musée de la Magie! This museum is full of amazing artifacts from the history and magic and illusion: antique magicians' props and gadgets, stunning optical illusions, beautiful old posters advertising magic shows, and more, all housed in a spooky 16th-century cellar that just happens to be beneath the Marquis de Sade's house. Yikes!
This is my friend Jarrod, who happens to be the super famous wizard rock musician known as Gred and Forge, pictured here lending some wizard rock credibility to le Musée de la Magie. It's a musée for wizards, and it rocks.
Whoa, it's the monster mouth doorway from the Café de L'Enfer! Don't worry; that's just a mirror, I'm not actually getting eaten. It's magic
Assorted creepy old magical gadgets
Check out this video I took of this plain ol' mirror that suddenly lights up with all kinds of weirdness inside! A skeleton plays the cello while a pretty lady takes her face off to reveal a singing skull. Spooky! Even spookier, you can see me for a split second at the beginning, on the left.
Just imagine how many gorgeous old-timey Parisian ladies have been cut in half in that box.
I wish I could've seen Marvo here do some tricks, but he was being really lazy that day. I tell ya, these French people and their 35-hour work week...
Huh, well, that's something you don't see every day: skeletal arms playing a violin sticking out of a painting that's hanging up on the ceiling. Magic!
Getting there
In my opinion the most convenient way to get to le Musée de la Magie is to take the Métro to Saint Paul. When you exit the Métro you'll be in front of Rue St-Antoine, in a little place with a carousel. Put Rue St-Antoine on your left and the carousel on your right, and walk down the street a bit; you'll see the beautiful and impressive church called Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, which will be on your right. Keep walking and take your next right, onto Rue Saint Paul. From here you'll just walk a few blocks down toward the river until you see the Musée de la Magie on your right.
Don't miss the Musée des Automates as well!
The Musée de la Magie is housed in the same building as the Musée des Automates — the automata museum — and you can buy a combined ticket to visit both together. They're both relatively small, so you can definitely fit them both in, and they're both fantastic. Check out my article on the Musée des Automates for more info as well as some pictures and video.
Enjoy!
Musée des Automates
Le Café de L'Enfer
Avion III
Musée de la chasse et de la Nature
Musée Grevin