The alternative guide to Paris’ museums

A shrine to sensory pleasure, the Musée du Parfum is one of Paris’ youngest museums but devoted entirely to one of France’s oldest exports: perfume. Visit and discover the history of perfume, the science of smell and the “garden of scents”, among other things. If you’re keen for some olfactory exploration, you’ll find this museum nestled away near the Opéra Garnier on the Square de l’Opéra. Entry is free.

There are a lot of art galleries and museums in Paris, but you won’t find many like this one. Paris’ premier legalised art squat, 59 Rivoli is somewhere in between a gallery, a studio, a shrine to counterculture and a centre for creative liberation. 

But you won’t need to look for the door numbers as you walk down the Rue de Rivoli – this living, breathing gallery sticks out among the chain restaurants and shops in part due to the giant art installations that adorn the façade of the building. Every weekend you’ll find free concerts on the ground floor from 6pm.

The Musée de la Contrefaçon can be found inside a 1920s townhouse that was formerly the property of one Gaston Louis Vuitton (grandson of you-know-who), who gifted it to UNIFAB (the Union of Manufacturers). UNIFAB is a French association dedicated to promoting and defending intellectual property, and the organisation has filled this museum with hundreds of examples of counterfeit goods, from stiletto-heeled ‘Nike’ trainers, to ‘Chanel’ marigolds. 

One of the more bizarre establishments on this list, the Museum of Counterfeiting is something of a counterfeit itself – the building is a copy of one destroyed in Hausmann’s renovation of Paris in the 19th century. The only place to go if you want to spend some of your trip to Paris musing over consumer culture.

Not everyone gets a museum dedicated to them, but fans of Edith Piaf will be delighted to know that the diminutive songstress is not one of those people. The museum for ‘the Little Sparrow’ is appropriately tiny, spanning just two rooms in a fourth-floor apartment (Piaf’s former home) and telling the story of her life through personal artefacts rather than large-scale interactive exhibits. Plan ahead as museum opening hours are limited.

We’re breaking our golden rule a little here as this isn’t exactly a hidden secret, but one of the best museums in Paris is also one of its most unique. The Catacombs de Paris date back to the late 18th century, when police and priests found themselves needing to move bodies to the tunnels due to overcrowded, condemned cemeteries. The labyrinthian network below Paris is vast, but the sections of the catacombs open to the public may contain some prominent Frenchmen, including author Charles Perrault (Little Red Riding Hood… Cinderella… heard of them?)

 If you want to avoid long queues to get in, book tickets ahead of time.