Carnavalet Museum, Paris

A museum of the history of Paris in two mansions

The Carnavalet Museum, “Histoire de Paris” in its full name, is the museum of the history of the capital. It occupies two town houses of the Marais, the Hôtel Carnavalet and the Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, linked by a gallery at first-floor level. It reopened in May 2021 after almost five years of work, and shows about 3,800 works and objects over 3,900 m².

Photo: Dinkum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

What changes in 2026

• An exhibition from 14 October. “Paris à l’arraché : Jacques Villeglé et l’art urbain”, until 14 February 2027; this one is ticketed.
• A free display in the last room. “Nouveau Paris, de 1977 à nos jours”, from 25 September 2026 to 5 December 2027.

Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Planning the visit

Because the collections are free, the only booking question concerns the exhibitions, for which the museum recommends a timed ticket online. Large bags are refused: leave luggage at your hotel. The museum stands a short walk from the place des Vosges and from the Maison de Victor Hugo, and the Picasso Museum lies about 285 metres to the north, in a straight line. For the other museums of the quarter, see our guide to Le Marais.

Photo: NonOmnisMoriar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

History of the two mansions

The Hôtel Carnavalet was built between 1548 and 1560 for Jacques de Ligneris, a president of the Parlement of Paris; Wikipedia attributes the design to Pierre Lescot. François Mansart worked on it in 1660, and Madame de Sévigné lived there from 1677 to 1696. The City of Paris bought it in 1866, under the prefecture of Baron Haussmann.

The Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, built from 1688 by the architect Pierre Bullet, is plainer in style. It was restored from 1982 to 1989 and opened to the public in 1989, and its staircase has a cast-iron handrail. The gallery on the first floor joins the two houses, so the visit passes from one to the other without going outside.

What to look for inside

The route is chronological, from prehistory to the present. About 34 period rooms rebuild Parisian interiors, among them the blue Louis XVI salon, rooms from the Café de Paris, the ballroom of the Hôtel de Wendel with its decoration by José Maria Sert (1924–1925) and the Fouquet jewellery shop decorated by Alfons Mucha in 1901. The bedroom of Marcel Proust is also shown.

The revolutionary collections include the keys of the Bastille. Behind them stand the museum’s reserves: about 2,800 paintings, 150,000 photographs, 300,000 prints and 50,000 coins and medals. Ten per cent of the works are hung at a child’s eye level, a measure introduced in the 2016–2021 renovation, which cost €58 million and was led by François Chatillon, the Norwegian studio Snøhetta and the scenographer Nathalie Crinière.

Combining the museum with its neighbours

Distances are straight-line, calculated from the coordinates in our data; walking times use our usual rule of 1.3 times the straight line at 80 metres a minute.

Place	Straight line	On foot
Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris	84 m	2 min
Musée Cognacq-Jay	162 m	3 min
Rue des Rosiers	246 m	4 min
Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis	268 m	4 min
Place des Vosges	274 m	4 min
Musée Picasso	284 m	5 min
Hôtel de Sully	300 m	5 min

The Musée Cognacq-Jay, devoted to the eighteenth century, is the closest museum; the Hôtel de Sully and the place des Vosges form a short loop with it. Because the Picasso Museum is also closed on Monday, a Tuesday to Sunday plan serves both. The self-guided walking tour passes the Carnavalet between the Picasso Museum and the square.

Where to stay near the museum

Eleven hotels of our database stand within 300 metres. The nearest is the three-star Hôtel Les Tournelles, 126 metres away, followed by the five-star Cour des Vosges (164 m), the three-star Hôtel Jeanne d’Arc Le Marais (170 m) and the four-star Hôtel de JoBo (184 m). The distances are straight-line. For a broader choice around the square, see hotels near the place des Vosges.

Partner activities

GetYourGuide’s catalogue includes guided visits of the museum and Tiqets an exhibition ticket; both are shown below. We have not checked dates or prices, and the entry to the collections does not need a ticket.