The Museum of Magic and Curiosity is a private collection of optical illusions, fun house mirrors, wind-up toys, and historical magic artifacts located in the Marais. Paired with the Musée des Automates, it also houses a terrific collection of over one hundred 19th and 20th-century automatons. There is, however, a dark side to the museum.

The collection is housed in the 16th-century vaulted cellar of what was once the Marquis De Sade’s house. Sade lived in the building as a young man and developed the beginnings of his notorious sexual appetite there. Today the museum’s whimsical holdings are a delightful counterpart to its sadist history, and are appropriate for adults and children alike. Every tour concludes with a magic show.