Your experience

Explore the Carnavalet Museum with a guided tour through Parisian history and its permanent exhibition.

Getting started

Enter the Carnavalet Museum using your booking confirmation and follow signs to the main lobby area. You then join your guide as the group forms and the visit to the permanent exhibition begins. After a brief orientation to the museum layout and accessibility options, the group moves into the first galleries devoted to the earliest history of Paris.

What to expect

Carnavalet Museum

Located in the Marais district, the Carnavalet Museum is dedicated to the history of Paris, from its origins to modern times. Your visit focuses on the permanent exhibition, which traces the city’s development through artworks, objects, and historic rooms.

Features

• The experience includes entry to the Carnavalet Museum, access to the permanent exhibition, and a guided explanation of artworks and key events. A small-group guided tour format is available when you select that option, allowing for questions and closer discussion of particular artworks.
• Access to the permanent exhibition takes you through galleries that explore the rich history of Paris from ancient times to the French Revolution and beyond, using paintings, sculptures, and everyday objects to show how the city evolved.
• As you move into sections highlighting the Middle Ages and the French Revolution, you discover masterpieces and treasures that illustrate key turning points in Parisian political and cultural life.
• Throughout the route, your guide offers a guided explanation of artworks and key events, using selected pieces to explain major historical periods and the stories of writers, revolutionaries, artists, queens, and everyday citizens.
• In the later parts of the tour, you experience elegant courtyards, restored salons, and immersive period rooms that reveal how Parisians lived in different eras and help you gain insight into the cultural and political forces that shaped Paris.

Highlights

• At Carnavalet Museum, step into recreated Parisian interiors where original furniture, art, and objects immerse you in the feel of the historic city.
• Start your visit by entering the Carnavalet permanent galleries with your guide, then follow a route linking artworks with major Paris events.
• Move through rooms devoted to ancient Paris, the Middle Ages, and the French Revolution, seeing how the city grows and transforms across centuries.
• Hear stories of writers, revolutionaries, artists, and queens as you cross quiet courtyards and corridors lined with paintings and memorabilia.
• Upgrade to a small-group format for a more personal visit, with time for your guide to answer questions and shape stories to your interests.