Archive Architecture Books Heritage Paris

Villa Marmottan Library in Boulogne-Billancourt Holds a Collection on the Napoleonic Era

The Villa Marmottan library is a hidden sight of Paris, situated in the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. This former mansion of the historian Paul Marmottan has today been turned into a unique public library under the aegis of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Unlike the popular Musée Marmottan Monet, this place draws researchers of the Napoleonic era and lovers of a secluded historical atmosphere.

The chief treasure of the villa lies in its perfectly preserved nineteenth-century interiors. Visitors find themselves among authentic Empire-style furniture, antique clocks, candelabra and paintings from the days of the First Empire. The library's holdings include more than twenty-five thousand rare books and historical documents, which makes it one of the largest centres in the world for the study of Napoleonic France.

At present the villa functions not only as an archive but also as a lively cultural space. Chamber music concerts and scholarly conferences are held here regularly, and artists' residencies are in operation. Access to the reading room for work with the materials is free of charge, though a visit requires obligatory prior registration on the official website of the Académie

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Rembrandt, the painting “Philosopher Reading”: an old man with a book in a vaulted hall

Hieromonk Sofontiy of the Kerzhenets, an Old Believer father: his grave, his following and his portrayal by Melnikov-Pechersky

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Zurbarán exhibition at the Louvre opens with the 1627 “Crucifixion” from the Art Institute of Chicago