This enormous museum, subtitled Histoire de Paris (History of Paris), is housed in two hôtels particuliers: the mid-16th-century Renaissance-style Hôtel Carnavalet and the late-17th-century Hôtel Le Peletier de St-Fargeau.

Displays chart the history of Paris from the Gallo-Roman period to modern times on the 1st floor and fill more than 100 rooms. Some of the nation’s most important documents, paintings and other objects from the French Revolution are here; so are Georges Fouquet’s stunning art nouveau jewellery shop from the rue Royale and Marcel Proust’s cork-lined bedroom from his apartment on bd Haussmann, where he wrote most of the 7350-page literary cycle À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time).