MUSÉE NISSIM DE CAMONDO
Language: English / USA
"Musée Nissim de Camondo" in Rue Monceau 63 is a house-museum and it takes its name from a count with Turkish origins named Moïse de Camondo, who was an important exponent of high-ranking Jewish finance in Second Empire Paris.
This museum's charm lies in the fact that it has preserved the same opulent appearance it had as a residence of those days. Every detail has remained intact and the palace is furnished with objects, furniture, tapestries, paintings, woodwork, and furnishings from the 1700s. This collection is truly impressive, and I especially recommend admiring the famous 17th-century Sèvres porcelain service for 48 people that is decorated with more than 100 different types of birds.
The Camondo family's story unfortunately has a sad ending. The museum is named after Moïse's daughter Irene and his son, who during the First World War fought in the French Air Force on a plane that was shot down. His daughter was deported during the Nazi occupation of Paris and died in Auschwitz in 1945.
FUN FACT: you'll even tour the kitchens and the bathrooms in the Nissim de Camondo Museum: just think, in the early 1900s the palace could boast of nine water closets, all equipped with a revolutionary silent flushing system!
