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Paris Erotic MuseumMusée de l'Erotisme
ABOVE: The Museum of Eroticism, a.k.a. the Musée de l'Erotisme, is on the Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement. INSET BELOW: Many of the museum's exhibits are too graphic to be shown on this family site.
But don't sell the Erotic Museum short: Despite its name and its immediate neighbors, the Musée de l'Erotisme is a serious museum, and it's worth visiting during a pilgrimage to Sacré-Coeur, the Moulin Rouge nightclub, and other attractions in Montmartre. A labor of love, and a celebration of lustThe Erotic Museum was founded by Alain Plumey and Joseph Khalifa, two Parisians who assembled a vast collection of erotic art and artifacts in the 30 years that preceded the museum's opening in 1997. The two men turned a former cabaret into seven stories of galleries, some devoted to permanent displays and others featuring temporary exhibits of art and pornography.
Upstairs, you'll find an early 20th Century porn movie where a skinny man and his hefty female companion are performing the same sorts of things that you'd see on an Internet porn site, but in black and white instead of color.
The most fascinating part of the Erotic Museum--and a good reason to visit even if you've seen one artificial yoni or lingham too many--is the extensive gallery of brothel photos, drawings, and documents from the late 19th Century until 1946, when bordellos were closed down by the French government. Exhibit labels in French and English describe the role that brothels once played in French life. (The labels also contain a few surprises, such as the fact that the Prince of Wales, Charlie Chaplin, and Cary Grant sampled the Paris brothel scene.) A museum for grown-ups of all agesThe Erotic Museum serves--or services--a diverse clientele. During my visit on a Saturday morning, my fellow patrons were respectable-looking singles and couples who ranged in age from early 20s to late 60s. If you're embarrassed by the idea of a visit to a sex museum, don't be; the other guests are as likely to be from a church group as from the Fraternal Order of Overt Perverts. Where and when to visitThe Musée de l'Erotisme is at 72 boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, just east of the Place Blanche at the southern edge of Montmartre. To reach it, take Métro line 2 to Blanche and walk a short distance east of the square on the north side of the boulevard (in the direction opposite from the Moulin Rouge). The museum is also within walking distance of Pigalle (Métro line 12) and Place de Clichy (Métro line 13). The Erotic Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. until 2 a.m. Tickets at the door aren't cheap, but you can get a discount voucher at the museum's Web site.
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