Musee de la Publicite museum in Paris
Advertising takes on different forms of artistic creation and social trends, with this museum in Paris originally opening purely dedicated to posters and decorative arts, but later became the Publicity museum.
About Musee de la Publicite
Originally the museum was opened in 1978 on the Rue de Paradis with the name of the Musee de l’Affiche, which was designed to explore all avenues of decorative arts including ordinary and commonplace aspects.
This museum in Paris then moved to the Rue de Rivoli in 1990 within a wing of the Louvre Palace called the Aile de Rohan-Rivoli and became a part of Les Arts Decoratifs that encompasses different museums.
Then in 1999, Jean Nouvel designed the permanent exhibition rooms specifically for the collection, and the Musee de l’Affiche was renamed the Musee de la Publicite, which in English translates to the Publicity Museum.
You will find that the Musee de la Publicite has a very impressive collection of around 50,000 posters that date from the 18th century right through to World War II, yet alone the 20,000 or so contemporary posters that date from 1950 to the present day, which of course is constantly expanding.
Yet the museum also has over 20,000 French and foreign advertising films that date from the 1930s through to present times, along with radio commercials and press advertisements that amount to more than 30,000 promotional objects.
As you can no doubt appreciate, not all of these can be on display and many of these are also too fragile to be put on display permanently, therefore the whole exhibition changes on a regular basis, so there is always something new to discover every time you are back in Paris on holiday.
You will also find that there is a multimedia library where people can search through the Musee de la Publicite collections, plus a reading room to consult the international specialist press, which is great if you are interested in finding out more and cannot view certain items at the time of your visit.
Visiting Musee de la Publicite in Paris
Situated on the Rue de Rivoli, the normal access is via 107, however, you may be pleased to know that there is disabled access via 105 Rue de Rivoli, and the Musee de la Publicite is open from a Tuesday to a Sunday from 11am through to 6pm.
There is also a late opening until 9pm on a Thursday, for temporary exhibitions only, yet is closed on a Monday and on all National French holidays such as 1st May, 15th August, etc.
Now because there are different museums that are linked with Les Arts Decoratifs, there are different rates depending upon what you want to visit, and as of 2020 the Musee de la Publicite is a cost of €14 with an audio guide included, yet this entitles you to also enjoy the collections of the Musee de la Mode et du Textile and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs plyus temporary exhibitions.
You can also get a combined ticket to all the museums located at the Rue de Rivoli for €20, which includes being able to visit the Musee Nissim de Camondo museum as well, within a 4 day period of the date chosen on your ticket, also with audio guides included.
However, there is free admission to disabled visitors and a carer accompanying them, plus any person under the age of 26, although we would like to point out that proof of eligibility may be required.
Access to Musee de la Publicite
You will find this unusual museum in Paris located in the 1st Arrondissement within minutes of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which is the smaller triumphal arch commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte positioned in between the Jardin des Tuileries and the most famous of all museums, The Louvre, where you can find the Mona Lisa painting among many other fabulous works of art.
However, you are also within a walking distance of the River Seine and the Place de la Concorde, which was where Marie Antoinette was beheaded during the French Revolution, now home to the oldest monument in Paris called the Luxor Obelisk.
So when it comes to utilising public transport in Paris there are the Metro stations called the Palais Royal - Musee du Louvre stop serving lines 1 and 7, plus both the Tuileries stop and the Louvre-Rivoli stop serve line 1.
However, just a little further walk and you have the Pyramides stop via lines 7 and 14 or there is the Concorde stop serving lines 1, 8 and 12, which is located at the Place de la Concorde close to the start of the Avenue des Champs Elysees.
As an alternative, you can utilise the buses and the bus lines 21, 27, 39, 42, 45, 58, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 84, 85, 94 and 95 along with the Noctilien Night Bus Service via lines N01, N11, N12, N13, N15, N16, N21 and N24 will get you within walking distance of the Musee de la Publicite section of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs and numerous other tourist attractions in Paris.
Alternatively, there is also the Batobus, which is the water bus that travels up and down the River Seine in addition to the tours in Paris such as the l’OpenTour, which also stops nearby as well.
