Musée des Automates — creepy mechanical oddies at the Automata Museum

Musée des Automates
11, Rue St Paul, 75004 Paris (Map)
Métro: Saint Paul, Pont Marie, Sully - Morland | Website

The Musée des Automates is a tiny museum housed in the same 16th-century cellar as the Musée de la Magie; both of which happen to be beneath the Marquis de Sade's house. Tons of delightful old coin-operated automata are on display, and you can operate most of them yourself.

Assorted nightmare fuel at the Musée des Automates.

Check out this short clip I took of some mechanical monkey musicians.

Getting there

In my opinion the most convenient way to get to le Musée des Automates 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 des Automates on your right.

Don't miss the Musée de la Magie as well!

The Musée des Automates is housed in the same building as the Musée de la Magie — the magic 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 de la Magie for more info as well as some pictures and video.

Enjoy!

- Manning