This museum, attached to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, tells not only the story of a family that has since died out, but also shows part of the art collection that they cultivated, all in the large townhouse that they had built on the border of the smart parc Monceau. You feel like your in a château of the Loire valley, and yet your right in Paris…

After having liked the exhibition at the Jewish art and history museum, Camondo’s Splendour (which you can still see until 7th Marchn 2010), we really wanted to visit the Nissim de Camondo museum. The photos of it that we had seen gave us the impression of a truly exceptional place. We were not disappointed.

The ouse was built a century ago (1911) by the Count Moïse de Camondo, a successful banker from a Jewish family. Largely inspired by the Petit Trianon in Versailles, the rooms were specially designed to provide the perfect backdrop for his extraordinary collection of 18th century objects, some rooms even being tailored to fit wooden elements imported from other great houses. As soon as your enter the courtyard you know you are somewhere grand.

Entrance to the museum is not expensive (7€ per person), and there’s plenty to see – three floors! Nissim died during the First World War, and the museum was given his name by his father, Moïse. Moïse died a recluse in 1935, and the rooms have been conserved as they were at the time. Indeed, the house was bequeathed to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and the will stated that it was to be kept like that. The art collection of Moïse’s brother Isaac (with many important impressionist pieces) was also left to the state, and is now mostly to be found in the Musée d’Orsay. The remaining members of the Camondo family were exterminated by the Nazis during the Second World War. Wat had been a flourishing family ended abruptly.

This sad story serves as a backdrop to the visit. The idea of a family building itself up to such heights, before disappearing so suddenly, is chilling. We are lucky that Moïse and Isaac left all they did to the state. Such generosity is much rare these days.

So let’s tart our visit. The hallway sets the tone…

Once upstairs, you reach a large room with a very high ceiling, before entering the reception rooms proper. If you like rich fabrics and beautiful 18th century objects, you are going to love it.

In each room there are wonderful pieces of furniture, large mirrors, shining candelabras… Such places are rare in Paris, especially ones so well preserved.

The house was built in the place of the one belonging to Moïse’s parents (that he had torn down!). Careful attention was taken to the amount of natural light, and the gardens were redesigned. Just beyond them is the parc Monceau.

We loved the fabrics in the next room…

And the dining room is -predictably – quite splendid, with a small room leading off, used for displaying the fine porcelain. In his later years, Moïse preferred eating here. He never really recovered from the death of his son.

Leaving the floor of reception rooms, we go upstairs via a small but ornamental staircase.

The next few rooms are smaller in size, but just as impressive…

Even the bathrooms are opulent…

The visit continues, one beautiful room after another. We could never show you everything here, but we do advise you to make use of the audioguide, as it is very well done and can give important information about certain objects and points of history. We learned – for example – that some of the furniture builder had also created pieces for our mystery celebrity BJ (see the HBJ2010 site for more clues!).

The last room you’ll see is the kitchen. It’s huge, with a large room next door just so that the personnel could eat together.

We think that the Nissim de Camondo museum (here) is a truly beautiful place. We’re amazed that we’ve missed it for all these years! It’s open everyday except Mondays from 11am – 6pm (last ticket at 5.30pm). Admission 7€ / 5€ (including audioguide).

Official site: here

And we have lots of other photos to show you too! Click play on the slideshow below, then click the four arrows bottom right to go into fullscreen mode. Alternatively, you can check out the Flickr gallery here.