The Nissim de Camondo Museum Paris: opening hours and prices

♡ In our opinion, the Nissim de Camondo Museum is a little gem. It is one of our favorite little Parisian museums, ideal to visit with the family. Located in a magnificent mansion on the edge of the Parc Monceau, it houses the private collection of 18th century art objects built up by Moïse de Camondo. But it is above all for the visit to the mansion and for the poignant history of the Camondo family, that we recommend this family visit. After the visit, the children will be delighted to enjoy the Parc Monceau located right next door.

The Nissim de Camondo Museum: discover daily life in a late 19th century mansion

• This museum allows you to discover the workings of a very rich bourgeois private house from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• The uniqueness of the Nissim de Camondo Museum is that all the rooms in the house have remained as they are and are open to the public
• We discover not only the ceremonial lounges, but also the kitchen (a marvel!), the staff room, the private apartments with their ultra-modern bathrooms
• The Camondo family’s mansion was built by the architect René Sergent in the spirit of the Petit Trianon in Versailles, or in the aristocratic spirit of the eighteenth century
• The museum houses the private collection of 18th-century French furniture and art objects that Moïse de Camondo collected throughout his life
• The museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5:30 pm
• The Nissim de Camondo Museum is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, January 1st, May 1st and December 25th

The Camondo family: a tragic family destiny

• A visit to the Camondo Museum is also an opportunity to discover the tragic fate of the Camondo family
• The Camondos, a Sephardic Jewish family originally from Turkey, founded a bank at the beginning of the 19th century, which became one of the most important in the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the Second Empire, the two Camondo brothers, Abraham-Behor and Nissim, left Constantinople and settled in Paris
• Their sons, cousins Isaac and Moïse, became informed collectors under the Third Republic. Moïse, a great lover of the 18th century, built up the collection of art objects that can be seen today at the Nissim de Camondo Museum and had the mansion built
• During the 1st World War, Moïse’s son, named Nissim after his grandfather, was the first of the Camondos to fight for France. He left for the front in August 1914 where he distinguished himself by his temerity. Assigned to the air force, he became a seasoned aviator in the army but died in an aerial combat in 1917
• In 1920, his father Moïse, overwhelmed by grief, bequeathed to the current Museum of Decorative Arts, the mansion he intended for his son, with all the art collection he had built up
• The only descendants of Moïse de Camondo remain his daughter Beatrice, his son-in-law the musician Léon Reinach and their two children. In 1943, they were arrested and interned in Drancy. Deported, they were exterminated in Auschwitz in 1943
• Two wars swept away the Camondo family, which had chosen to become French. Their name survives only through this charming little museum, dreamed of by Moses for his son Nissim