Musée Nissim de Camondo

The Musée Nissim de Camondo is a furnished early 20th-century mansion filled with 18th-century French decorative arts, at 63 rue de Monceau on the edge of Parc Monceau in Paris's 8th arrondissement. It has been closed for renovation since 4 August 2024, and reopening has been put back to 2030. It will suit lovers of furniture, porcelain and silver once it reopens.

The house was built between 1911 and 1914 for Moïse de Camondo, a banker from a Sephardic Jewish family, to designs by the architect René Sergent, as a setting for his collection. Camondo's son Nissim was killed in action in 1917, during the First World War. When Moïse died in 1935 he left the house and its contents to Les Arts Décoratifs in his son's memory, and the museum opened in 1936. His daughter Béatrice and her family were later deported and murdered at Auschwitz, and the house also stands as a memorial to them.

The rooms are kept as a furnished private home, much as they were in 1936. Highlights include Aubusson and Beauvais tapestries, portraits by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, objects that belonged to Marie-Antoinette, furniture by Riesener and Oeben and a bust by Houdon. The table settings are a particular strength, with Sèvres porcelain including the Buffon services painted with birds and the Orloff silver service by Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers. The kitchens and service rooms show how a large household ran in the early 20th century. Earlier restoration campaigns, from 1985 to 1995 and again in recent years, restored the panelling and textiles of the reception rooms, opened the kitchen and servants' quarters on the lower ground floor, made Nissim's apartments visitable in full and returned the bathroom to its original state.

Reopening was first announced for early 2027, but more recent announcements have moved it to 2030. Check the Les Arts Décoratifs website for the confirmed date and ticket prices before planning a visit. Once open, allow 60 to 90 minutes.

While the house is closed, Parc Monceau next door is open as usual, and the Musée Cernuschi, the City of Paris museum of Asian arts with a free permanent collection, is about 300 metres away. The Musée Jacquemart-André, another collector's mansion, is about a kilometre away. Monceau on metro line 2 is about 500 metres from the Camondo house, and Villiers (lines 2 and 3) about 600 metres.