THE GUIDE MUSEUMS 2019 CRAZY


If variety is the spice of life, then the museums featured in the following listing are sure-fire scorchers! A five-storey building packed with 100 miniature film sets? Check. An exhibit populated by a menagerie of mechanical dolls and clowns? Check. A vampire fanatic’s home that has been transformed into an appointment-only shrine to blood-suckers? Check, check, check! The French know no bounds when it comes to the weird and wonderful, so brace yourself and read on – your offbeat adventure starts here…


Musée de l’Automate de Souillac Souillac, Lot


A troupe of mermaids with fish and seashells for instruments strike up a tune for nobody in particular. A portly businessman clad in tweed clutches his belly and cackles so hard that his head jiggles. A sinister-looking Pierrot pours himself a tipple and scans


magician’s cape – dominate a small and mysterious space (claustrophobia sufferers may want to sit this one out). Families will love the live magic tricks and assortment of props, gizmos and posters, not to mention the neighbouring Musée des Automates in the same cellar (FYI, it’s possible to buy a combined ticket for both museums). Creepiest of all? The infamous Marquis de Sade used to reside in the building above. www.museedelamagie.com


A mermaid orchestra plays a tune at Souillac’s Musée de l’Automate


the room, whilst a little girl, whose face is far from fine, hops over a skipping rope – except her feet never touch the ground. Welcome to the Musée de l’Automate – the Museum of Automatons – a portal to the uncanny valley boasting a collection of 300 mechanical toys from the 19th and 20th centuries. As compelling as it is disquieting, this window into the


past is exciting for imaginative children and adults alike. www.musee-automate.fr


Musée de la Magie 4th arrondissement, Paris For a dose of whimsy and wonder, duck into the underground Museum of Magic in Paris’s 4th arrondissement. Inside, exposed stone and red carpet – not unlike the lining of a


Musée des Égouts de Paris 7th arrondissement, Paris No, your French vocabulary hasn’t failed you, this is indeed the Museum of the Sewers of Paris. The capital, you see, is more than just the City of Light, more than just the heart of this great nation; it is also, in its Haussmannian splendour, a shining example of forward- thinking city planning in the engineering of waste disposal. You may recall that, in what


❯❯ A UNIQUE COLLECTION IN FRANCE!


MUSEE CINEMA ET MINIATURE - Lyon www.museeminiatureetcinema.fr


152 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Aug/Sep 2019


IMAGE © MUSÉE DE L’AUTOMATE


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