The Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, on 31 July 1830, with the arrival of Louis-Philippe, Duc d’Orléans

From the Middle Ages on, the Paris administration was found at the same location on Place de Grève. This meeting house, which was first called the “bourgeois parlor” or “house on piles”, was replaced in the 16th century during the reign of Francis I with a palace built by the Italian...

Trésor de la Ville de Paris sauvé et conservé, 5 octobre 1789.

In the morning on October 5, 1789, a crowd of women from the Paris markets and city outskirts met in front of city hall before walking on to Versailles later in the day. In the commotion, city hall was invaded, doors were shattered, cupboards were forced open and part of the city’s treasure was...

"One hopes that this game will end soon"

Faced with general discontent, King Louis XVI called together on May 5, 1789, the representatives of French society who had been elected during the Estates General at Versailles. There were 1,139 deputies. The deputies of the Third Estate, who were opposed to some of the deputies from the...

Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen.

On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly approved the declaration that proclaims that the rights of man and the citizen are natural, inalienable and sacred. All men are born free and with equal rights, social distinctions can be established only according to merit, and security and property are...

Decor from the ballroom of the Hôtel de Wendel (mansion)

The Catalan painter José María Sert moved to Paris in 1899 and was one of the favorite artists of Parisian society in the nineteen-twenties. An heir to the grand tradition of Italian decorative painting, he was considered in the twenties to be the greatest muralist of the 20th century. During...

Bouteille

  From 1866 to 1875, major excavations were made on Ile de la Cité during the construction of the new Hôtel Dieu hospital. Discovered on May 20, 1867, at the intersections of Rue Saint-Landry and Rue des Marmousets, this bottle is intact in spite of the fragility of the material. In a...

View of the artificial “mountain” erected for the Feast of the Supreme Being at the Champ-de-Mars, June 8, 1794 (20 Prairial Year 2)

This revolutionary festival was held on 20 Prarial in the Year II (June 8, 1794). Instituted by Maximilien Robespierre and influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it founded a religion based on a Supreme Being that advocated virtue, glorified nature and intended to replace Christianity. The...

The Paris terrorist attacks. Tribute to the victims

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of January 7, 8, 9, and November 13, 2015,  the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris presents a selection of anonymous tributes gathered where the attacks took place, as well as urban art created in connection with the tragic events.

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696)

1776-2026: 250 Years of Franco-American Friendship

The 4 July 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. From the reception for Benjamin Franklin in 1778 until the end of the Revolutionary War, signed in Paris on 3 September 1783, France played a special role in these events. The...