The Little Paris Museum (Muzeul Micul Paris) is a small private museum about the Parisian influence and lifestyle in Bucharest during the Belle Époque of the late 19th and early 20th century. The museum is located in an apartment, which you can enter via a small alley (Intrarea Nicolae Șelari) off Strada Lipscani.
If you walk around Bucharest you can observe many historic buildings that were built during the Belle Époque, a period in which Bucharest was flourishing and the French culture and lifestyle had a large influence in Europe. Some examples of these buildings are the CEC Palace, the Stock Exchange Palace, the Romanian Atheneum, and of course the Triumphal Arch, but most had a public function and don’t show what it was like to live in Bucharest during those times.
Bucharest didn’t only receive the nickname Little Paris for its architecture, but also because people started copying the Parisian lifestyle and even greeted each other in French. The Little Paris Museum shows you how the Romanian upper class was living during the Belle Époque, what their houses looked like from the inside, and how the people were influenced by the popular Parisian lifestyle. In the museum you can walk around the several rooms to observe what the furniture, decorations, porcelain, household items, clothing and other belongings looked like during those times. The friendly host will gladly tell you more and you can even have your pictures taken (at an additional cost) wearing the beautiful costumes from their wardrobe.
