PETIT PALAIS, City of Paris Fine Art Museum

Until the end of the 19th century, the City of Paris did not have a single museum: from 1797, the majority of national collections were displayed to the public in the Museum, the current Louvre, with the remainder assigned to the Museums of Fine Arts of large Provincial cities.

Under the Second Empire, at the time when the works of Haussmann were changing the face of the old Paris, the Parisian authorities conceived a project for a museum dedicated to the history of the city. In this way the Carnavalet Museum was born. Inaugurated in 1880, it is the oldest municipal museum in the capital. Until then, sculptures, pictures and wall paintings were exhibited in the Hôtel de Ville and the various municipal establishments, including the churches. To support artistic creation, the City also bought paintings, sculptures, prints, medals and other objet d’art in Salons. These works, which were held in trust, were not accessible to the public.

The 1990 Universal Exposition was the opportunity to present part of these collections in the Petit Palais building, built for the event. After the Exposition, the City decided to transform this building into a permanent museum, the City of Paris Fine Art Museum.