Musée des Arts Forains: A Vintage Fairground Tucked Inside Paris

If you think you’ve seen all the great museums in Paris, think again. The Musée des Arts Forains, or Museum of Fairground Arts, is one of the city’s most surprising and genuinely fun experiences.

Hidden inside the old wine warehouses of Bercy, it’s not your typical museum with glass cases and quiet rooms.

Here, the worlds of vintage carnivals, curiosities, and fairground art come to life. Between the antique organs, carved figures, old-timey games, and whimsical rides, the whole place feels alive, more like stepping into an actual fairground than visiting a museum.

You don’t just look at the exhibits, you ride them and play the games yourselves. It somehow manages to be both a history lesson and a delightful, playful experience at the same time.

The Setting: The Old Wine Warehouses of Bercy

You’ll find the Musée des Arts Forains tucked away in the Bercy district of eastern Paris, inside a set of 19th-century warehouses that once stored barrels of wine for merchants arriving by boat along the Seine.

Back then, Bercy sat just outside city limits, which meant one very convenient thing: no wine taxes.

The story goes that in the early 1700s, a bold winegrower named Martin complained directly to King Louis XIV about the taxes he had to pay to sell wine in Paris.

Amused, the king granted Bercy an exemption, and the area quickly became one of Europe’s biggest wine markets, where Parisians came to trade, taste, and celebrate.

From Wine to Whimsy: How the Museum Came to Be

The museum was created by Jean Paul Favand, an actor and antique dealer who began collecting pieces from old fairs and entertainment venues in the 1970s.

At a time when fairground art was often dismissed as low-brow, he saw beauty and craftsmanship in these playful, larger-than-life creations and wanted to give them new life.

When plans for a state-funded museum fell through, he turned the idea into something more personal: a private, interactive space where visitors could experience the joy these pieces were built to inspire. He likes to think of himself as a stage director, arranging each object like an actor in a play.

Today, this is one of Europe’s largest collections of fairground art, and one of Paris’s most magical hidden gems.

A Celebration of Fairground Art

Favand’s collection celebrates the Belle Époque fairground era of the 1880s–1930s, when fairs across Europe showcased new inventions, elaborate games, wax figures, exotic curiosities, and beautifully crafted rides.

Inside, you’ll see things like fairground organs or and turn-of-the-century games that still work. Decorations fill the walls and corners, including pieces like wooden chariots, or carved horses and mythical creatures.

These pieces are now recognized as part of the decorative arts, appreciated for their intricate woodwork and clever mechanical design.

What a Visit Is Like

One of the best parts of visiting this museum is how interactive it is – in fact, the guide specifically tells you at the beginning of the tour that you are allowed to touch and play with everything.

Visits are only by guided tour, but the guides are really fun and upbeat, getting everyone involved with a lot of laughter and group participation.

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Highlights of the Fairground

The Bicycle Carousel

Built in 1897, this carousel is powered entirely by people pedaling old-fashioned bicycles. It can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour – faster than a galloping horse! It’s easy one of the museum’s most unexpected highlights.

The Horse Race Game

A working fairground game from the 1970s where everyone rolls a ball up a ramp, trying to have the ball drop into a hole (a classic fairground game). Which hole the ball drops in decides how far your horse moves forward. It’s a big crowdpleaser, with everyone cheering on the horses to victory.

The Flying Elephant

A whimsical creation made from parts of old carousels, this curiosity looks like something out of Around the World in 80 Days. The basket holds a little box called ‘The Dream Box”, which shows little miniature scenes of exotic locations.

The Ballroom

This ornate space features wax figures from the old Musée Grévin and a massive 1932 Mortier organ that still plays. The museum even hosts a winter ball here each year. The guide turns on the organ and gets everyone waltzing along to the old music.

The Venetian Gondola Carousel

This room re-creates Venice during Carnival, complete with a gondola-style carousel that glides in a slow circle under soft lights.

The Automaton Opera

Tucked in the same Venetian hall, animated figures in masks and period costumes perform short opera scenes from small balconies and stages. Each one moves in time to the music, recreating the grandeur of Venetian operas.

The Wooden Horse Carousel

This beautiful carousel, with its hand-painted horses and brass poles, is one of the museum’s showpieces.

Practical Information

Location: 53 Avenue des Terroirs de France, in the Bercy district of Paris’s 12th arrondissement. It’s about a 25-minute metro ride from the Louvre.

How to Visit: Visits are by guided tour only. Most tours are in French, though English ones run regularly in summer. If there’s not an English option during your visit, don’t worry – they provide handouts in several languages so you can easily follow along on the French tour.

Tickets: Reservations are required and can be booked a couple of weeks in advance on the museum’s website.

What to Expect: Tours last about 90 minutes and include access to four distinct areas of the museum.

Planning the Rest of Your Time in Paris?

The Arts Forains Museum is just one part of a Paris vacation. If you’re continuing to plan the rest of your trip, these guides can help:

• Where to Stay in Paris – A neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown to help you choose the right base
• Ultimate List of Things to Do in Paris – Nearly 100 sights and experiences, from must-sees to hidden gems

If you want everything in one place, my Paris travel guide page pulls together neighborhood guides, attraction and museum guides, foodie recommendations, and travel tips in one hub.