This unique place, known as theMuseum of Fairground Arts, invites you on an unusual journey through an exceptional collection of show objects dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. An escapade disconnected from time, exploring the themes of cabinets of curiosities, carnival, extraordinary gardens and the Belle Époque funfair.
Date: permanent exhibition except the Wonderful Festival every Christmas
Location: Museum of Fairground Arts
Desires: Outing with kids, wonder, spectacle, tradition, magic
A MUSEUM-SHOW IN PARIS
This unique tour adventure is available throughout the year, by reservation only for guided tours (with the exception of special events such as the Festival of the Marvelous)
A MEMORABLE IMMERSION IN A PARISIAN MUSEUM
Freed from the constraints of classic showcases and traditional cartels, this museum-show with an innovative concept has been coming to life for more than two decades thanks to the active participation of the public. This atypical place, combining culture, conviviality and curiosities, is distinguished by the possibility offered to visitors to sit on century-old rides or to have fun with old attractions.
Its avant-garde scenography, which skillfully combines tradition and modernity, transforms the simple visit into a total spectacle, where objects and visitors become actors. A little flashback: Before moving to its current location, the Musée des Arts Forains occupied a workshop in Gentilly, then on rue de l'Église in the 15th arrondissement. Today, which has become the Pavillons de Bercy, this place highlights the cellars (former wine storage buildings designed by the architect Louis-Ernest Lheureux) on the initiative of Jean Paul Favand, director of the Heritage of the Show and Fairground Arts. The museum covers 11,400 m2, paying particular attention to new technologies. In 2009, the Museum of Fairground Arts was recognized as a Living Heritage Company.
LOCATION CONFIGURATION - SCENOGRAPHY
The museum, located near Bercy Park and the Bercy Village shopping center, is served by the Cour Saint-Émilion stop on line 14 of the Paris metro. It occupies several stone pavilions with sloping roofs, built for the old warehouses of Bercy. These buildings form a rectangular ensemble bordered by Avenue des Terroirs de France, Rue Baron-Le-Roy, Rue des Pirogues-de-Bercy and Rue Lheureux. The main entrance is located at 53 avenue des Terroirs-de-France. The Museum of Fairground Arts offers the only private exhibition of fairground art elements open to the public in France. Composed of two parts, the temporary exhibition and the permanent exhibition, the museum houses:
14 rides and other fairground attractions,
16 funfair shops and restored attractions,
18 sets of historical works,
1522 independent works constituting the European Schools Museum.
The Museum of Fairground Arts extends over three rooms with a total area of 5,000 m2, with the respective themes:
the museum of fairground arts,
the theater of the marvelous,
the Venetian salon,
the Magic Mirror,
the green theater.
These spaces are open to the public all year round, by reservation only. They also host evening events. Visitors can test the rides and attractions according to the principles of active museology, during visits led by a speaker or a magician.
THE MUSEUM OF FAIRLAND ARTS
A bicycle ride dating from 1897, restored and in perfect condition, is available to visitors. This room is dedicated to the very essence of the funfair. Key attractions include a wooden horse carousel, a velocipede carousel (dating from 1897) and a ball-tossing game leading to a waiter race in a setting adorned with early 20th century beveled mirrors.
The velocipede carousel, equipped with artistically decorated seats for the youngest and around thirty velocipedes arranged in a circle on a rail, is activated by adult visitors. The latter set the ride in motion, while the start and stop signals are orchestrated by animators. Manufactured in 1897 in Ghent, Belgium, by Caillebaut and Decanck, this ride is based on a patent from the English firm Savage, operated in France by the Limonaire company. Recently restored within the museum, this ride is among the most popular attractions, attracting on average nearly 300,000 visitors per year.
The attraction of the waiters' race materializes in the form of a track where eleven metal silhouettes, representing waiters, move on rails, from right to left. Visitors direct the progress of the figures by throwing balls into holes placed on desks lined up at the foot of the track. The winners are rewarded with prizes.
THE THEATER OF THE MARVELOUS
A Hooghuys mechanical dance organ in Grammont is on display at the museum. This theater offers a return to the era of universal exhibitions, carousels and salons of the early 20th century. At the entrance, a hot air balloon with an elephant-shaped basket arouses admiration. A restored mechanical orchestra, including a piano, an organ and a wall-mounted chime of metal tubes, is now computer-operated, playing without musicians. Light shows and wall projections transform tapestries from the Middle Ages into living scenes or stage sets into elements of the Nautilus, thanks to 12 video projectors and 800 light sources scattered throughout the rental space, using the video mapping technique.
VENETIAN ROOMS
The Venetian salons, housed in a pavilion divided into two large rooms, bring together decorations, objects and attractions inspired by Venice and Italy, as they were perceived by the funfairs. A Venetian carousel offers visitors the opportunity to take a ride in a Venetian gondola or aboard other boats or animals, under the watchful gaze of a mermaid sculpture in the center. A gondola racing attraction pits around ten metal silhouettes in competition following a rail along a Venetian setting, under the control of visitors propelling them by throwing balls into holes (on the same principle as in the gondola attraction). cafe waiters race kept in another building). A sound and light show entitled "Venice the Serene", using the luminous fresco technique, adorns the decor with animated images for a few minutes.
In the second lounge, a automaton show with sound and light animates and makes several old automatons inspired by commedia dell'arte characters sing. One end of the living room is transformed into a small theater stage with a red curtain and backstage, hosting performances.
THE MAGIC MIRROR
The Magic Mirror, a bar room from the 1920s, in 2017. Made up of a central ring and twelve boxes, the Magic Mirror is a real traveling ballroom from the 1920s, coming from Belgium1 and restored by a collector . This building includes a small entrance hall as well as a large circular ballroom including a central dance floor around which stalls with benches and tables are arranged for spectators. The track lends itself to entertainment such as dances and tap dance numbers.
THE GREEN THEATER
Green theater of the Museum of Fairground Arts. September 2017. The green theater is the name given to the central alley between the museum buildings. These open-air spaces cover 2500 m². They display a unique scenography and atmosphere. The walls of the Bercy pavilions were wrapped in ivy. Various objects and decorations have been placed on the ground, on the walls and in the trees to extend the fairground and magical atmosphere of the museum outside: a crystal chandelier and several other old lighting fixtures are suspended among the trees, a sculpture of unicorn hangs on the branches of a tree, etc. One of the trees is decorated with accessories reminiscent of the world of the novel "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.
Entertainments are regularly staged on this alley, including a giant puppet of a hunchbacked man with a human head and arms, but bird legs and rump, as well as several musicians and costumed characters.
Date: permanent exhibition except the Wonderful Festival every Christmas
Location: Museum of Fairground Arts
Desires: Outing with kids, wonder, spectacle, tradition, magic
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