Musée de la Magie

Well. It's interesting I suppose. A 30-minutes magic show is included, but the magician was what it was. Very basic stuff for kids, maybe due to the fact there was a kid's birthday being celebrated. We appreciated the effort of trying to explain a bit in English, for tourists!

Very nice lady taking tickets; however, the “magician” led us in but did not speak to us; I thought it was part of the act until the end. Everyone thanked him, and he replied to everyone except me (I also thanked him), with whom he avoided eye contact. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Interesting museum if you are a practicing musician interested in history; if not, probably cheaper to stream a video with your favorite magician and look up stuff on Wikipedia. Sorry, would not recommend this experience.

Phenomenal collection of antique magic machines (many 100+ years old), most of them still operational - they even let you to interact with all of them and see how they work. A range of original magic equipment from automatons, old magic devices, or props used in Georges Melies movies. In the tour there is also included a 20ish minute magic show - the show is a collection of basic/classic sleight-of-hand tricks, but very professionally exectued - I knew these tricks but still didn't see how they were being done! There is also a bookstore with collection of old (late XIX, early XX century) books on magic, occultism, tricks - in quite decent prices (though all in French). Finally, I saw in many of the comments that many of the props don't work and for some you have to insert coin and pay 'extra' - when I was here I'd say 90%+ worked (incredible given they are so old), and if you interact with all the paid machines it may total you like 4EUR - but then you get to see how they worked exactly back in the day.

This museum features some interesting pieces but the magic show is all that is really the best part. While it is fun for kids, all the pieces are antique so interaction is a little limited. If you have limited time in Paris, I would leave this place off the list. I think the ticket prices are too high and also they should inform you that a lot of the pieces require you to insert coins to interact with. The magician and staff were lovely though !

Hidden in the Marais' vaulted cellars, this quirky museum showcases 18th-20th century magic apparatus. Daily performances include the famous "Zombie Ball" floating illusion. The hall of mirrors creates perfect Instagram shots. Kids love trying out the optical illusion devices.

At first, the museum made an interesting impression: a short show by a magician, many artefacts, and a number of small automates. Unfortunately, a large part of the automates didn’t work, the explanations were difficult to read and the show was targeted to very young children. With an entrance fee of €15, we were disappointed.

This is a great museum for kids and lovers of magic. The automatic part of the museum really wasn't that amazing. I was hoping for more creepy dolls, most of the artefacts were kinda dull. Kids would enjoy the "pushing buttons" factor. The magic museum side was pretty cool. Live magic and some nice interactive displays. There was a bunch of kids having a birthday party so was filled with laughter. I imagine when empty this place is creepy as.

If you fancy a cozy underground cellar-looking apartment full of poorly maintained memorabilia from magic shows of the early and mid 1900’s you will not be disappointed. If you expect anything modern or well-made, to show you some spectacular magic, will will have wasted your money, like we did. (And by the way it costs quite a bit of money)

Marvelous show and museum thank you for being so welcoming and entertaining! Highly recommend.

My husband dragged me here today and I liked it. If you are traveling to Paris with a young boy 5-25, you should take them to this musee. It was fun. When you go in, there are a few things to see but as part of your entry fee, you get to watch a 15 minute magic show. It was REALLY good. The magician told me that he is one of three French magicians that have performed at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. (that is BIG) He was amazing. Yes...it has weird hours. Yes...there isn't a lot to see. Yes...it's worth it. My hot tip would be to arrive right when they open on a Sunday at 2PM. Walk around for a bit and then watch the show. You can plan on spending one hour or so here.

Rather charming little museum; price is indeed a bit high. Probably best for kids or for people passionate about magic, especially if one is interested in automatons. There are not a lot of automaton museums; this is certainly not as good as the one in Lausanne, though it's impressive to see three rooms of them, even if not all of them work and they are poorly labeled, if at all. Several vitrines include historical pieces, some very simple (heads turn; simple 2D metal arms move). There are a couple that are small wood pieces or even a few made of what is obviously paper with instructions printed on it. A small explanatory sign discusses fairground games. I got the impression perhaps the owners got some automatons thrown in while they were assembling the collection for their true passion, magic, and decided to go with it. The magic portion of the museum is much better labeled and is a combination of more fairgrounds stuff (funhouse mirrors; animal mouths one inserts one's hand into); a shop (where you can buy and learn how to perform tricks); and lots of exhibits of Victorian magic show kits. My favorite exhibits included a window of seance trickery pieces (hooks you could hide in your sleeve to rap on the table, etc.); 3D views of multiple layers of cut paper; and a small display of Georges Melies artifacts (a cane; a small devil head and false head used in his ingenious special effect films). There was quite a lot of information on Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, about whom I knew nothing; Robert-Houdin is considered the father of modern magic and helped develop it from those fairground displays to something you could perform for the king (which he did). Houdini named himself after him, and many of Melies' early films are at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. Several displays (but not all) in both English and French; magic show is done live in French (and English if the audience needs it). Museum was obviously put together by someone who really loves magic.

Sadly this was a difficult experience for my family. The hours listed on Yelp, and their website, and the door are not when they are open. They are only open for 5 hours 3 days a week. It is more of a magic show than a museum or exhibit. As soon as you finish watching the performance they kick you out. We were not able to spend even 5 mind touring the place before we had to leave so the next performance could go on. Very disappointing given all the great reviews I read.

people are always saying how americans are rude, but i have never felt this disrespected. walked in, the man said bonjour, i replied as did my friend. immediately this miserable man starts rudely talking about how we didnt greet him, i did and even if i didnt, thats not a requirement. walked around the museum very briefly even after my friend asked for the gift shop and he again, rudely, directed her towards it. i then took a photo of one of the pieces of art, which apparently according to this old troll you need to ask permission? never been in any museum where you couldnt photograph the pieces of art you enjoyed seeing. please, i advised my friend not to give any money to this museum and advise you the same. theres no reason to be that miserable and rude to guests trying to visit your already poorly reviewed museum to enjoy themselves. very sad. ugly people do ugly things. go somewhere else! there was nothing special here except a few photos and a fake tarot booth.

Pretty lame, although it has the potential to be really cool. Most of the automatons on display have buttons to activate them. Sadly, many just don't work, and they are cool enough that I would have enjoyed seeing them in motion. It's a basement (allegedly of the Marquis de Sade's residence) chock-a-block with some interesting magic and illusion stuff but nowhere near enough to justify the entry fee. During our visit last week it smelled just like a friend's basement did the time he had a toilet back-up. We couldn't wait to get out of there -- which was an issue, too: one hallway leads to some back rooms and when the magic show was starting the hallway was so crowded it was impassable for several minutes. News of the tragic basement fire in a Normandy restaurant this weekend sent a shiver down my spine and made me think of that hallway.