Musée Carnavalet

We definitely plan to visit this museum on our upcoming trip. My special interest is Mme. de Sevigée herself. I%26#39;d appreciate it if someone could give me and idea of how much of the museum is specifically devoted to her. Thank you.

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It%26#39;s Sévigné, but no big deal. I recall a couple of portraits of her. But I last visited the museum at least 10 years ago. Others with more recent experience can chime in.

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Here is a very good description of the museum. It is called the %26#39;museum of the history of Paris%26#39; so it isn%26#39;t devoted to Mme. Sévigné that much. It is a good collection with a lot of variety and is free all the time, so go ahead and give it a couple hours at least.

placesinfrance.com/musee_carnavalet_museum.h…

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We%26#39;re just looking at our pictures of Carnavalet. It%26#39;s such a well done museum. So much to see. Lovely neighborhood.

Much of Madame S%26#39;s furniture is still there and several portraits (I think there was one room devoted to her). But it%26#39;s definitely only a small fraction of what is there.

Proust%26#39;s bedroom was fascinating, the Voltaire furnishings were extraordinary (we thought) and I took the most pictures in the Mucha room. There was so much else, too.

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If you had to choose between the Louvre and Musee Carnavalet, which would you see?

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The Louvre and Musee Carnavelet are in totally orthogonal directions. The Louvre covers ancient art, etc. in a broad range and Musee Carnavalet is very focused around the history of Paris. They don%26#39;t overlap.

For me, I get museum fatigue after an hour or two so the Louvre is just too big (kind of like the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg) and I have to take it in very thin slices. I prefer the Musee Carnavalet because I can go there and feel like I%26#39;ve seen it within my time tolerance. In general I%26#39;d rather go to five smaller museums than go to the Louvre for that equivalent amount of time.

But that is me!

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Oh. If you go to Musee Carnavalet. Visit the Musee Cognacq-Jay.

www.parismuse.com/artnews/profilecg.shtml

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The Carnavalet is my favorite museum in Paris. As previously noted, it%26#39;s smaller. It%26#39;s very doable in a morning or afternoon. Just wonderful. Btw, it%26#39;s closed on Mondays.

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I love the Carnavalet, but I would recommend that you do some Paris history homework before you go, to get the most out of it. (I suspect that you already have, since you%26#39;re interested in Mme de Sevigne.) What I remember most were the paintings, etc relating to the Revolution. Also don%26#39;t miss the great models of Paris during the years before Baron Haussman had his way with the city in the 19th century.