If you
crave, the bizarre and obscure.
Two
places you might like to visit, in Paris.
I am not one to shy away from going to strange and
unusual places. I have been down the
Paris catacombs, illegally at night. I have to the Le Musée de l'érotisme de Paris, which quite interesting and surprisingly
tasteful.Of course Paris is
steeped in history. However there are acouple of places, I found really
intriguing.
Dracula
Museum
There are many unlikely places, a person might end up at on a warm July
evening. Take the line three to the last stop, Mairie des Lilas, take a walk
down some rather gloomy roads and you will find yourself in the most unusual
museum, with a name that in previous times would have sent a message of fear,
the museum of “Dracula”. Dracula was the invention of Bram Stoker, whose novel
has been brought alive by many film versions. Though Dracula is a work of
fiction, Stoker's inspiration was Prince Vlad III Dracula, also known as Vlad
Tepes, meaning impaler. Vlad was a fifteenth century prince from the Wallachian
province of Romania, bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia, to the
east by the Black Sea and to the south by Bulgaria. This man was noted for his
inhuman cruelty.
After some confusion as to the entrance of the museum, we finally hit upon
the museum. The soiree was taking place, where poetry and music would be the
order of the day to a select audience. The museum has a garden and among other
artefacts of significance to the proprietors , are two graves, (superficial I
presume). Unlike most museums some of the artefacts are not tended with loving
care and the weather in some cases had done its worst, but no matter. Spread
about the garden are objects from previous soirees, goblets left unattended.
This place has been a bit of a hive of activity and creativity. I have only
threadbare information; the event is something to do with a magazine called
Salamander. The program is loose and there is much discussion (well this is France).
There are two distinctive Gothic woman, think Morticia of the Addams
family, wearing obligatory black, crochet like spider’s web, with long black
hair, the colour of ravens. There is a man with a walking stick, with a silver
skull motif. There was man wearing a collarless shirt, typical of times of
Dracula. The museum itself is not like a museum more a junk shop or curiosity
shop. There are leather bound books piled up, Dracula masks liberally left
about. The walls are bedecked with paintings or posters of Dracula films,
pictures of the likes of Christopher Lee or other portrayers of Dracula. There
was an old mirror (I thought Dracula had an aversion to mirrors, but still).
Part of the museum is in this dank garden, about the size of an over-sized
garden shed.
The second part of the museum, you have to enter this basement, with
crypt-like ambiance. The exhibits are crude, imagine blow up dolls that have
been re-adorned to create a Draculaesque scene. The “homemade ness” of this
museum, is perhaps intrinsic to its charms. It has not a cooperate vision, but
it is perhaps a person/peoples utopia/vision of Dracula. There is certainly a
surreal ness about the place and some of the people occupying it. Even the
trees in the garden have distinctiveness, I often think that branches often
mirror human limbs and with these trees, this is the case, had Dali done some
tampering/garden work with them? The space of the museum has been used, the
exterior walls have been daubed with images, what do the neighbors think, do
they stay any kind of time, or is there a constant flow of change?
The organizers seem an amicable harmless bunch, but I wonder why people
have a curiosity in the dark side of human nature? They took the opportunity to
drink some wine (naturally red) a wine of their own making, a wine full of
herbs. I didn’t stay to the culmination of the soiree, some other friends had
bolted earlier. I trudged back to the metro, thinking of this oddball
collection of people, in a strange environment in suburban Paris and the
enduring story of Dracula.
Musée des Arts Forains.
If
you ever get the chance try to go to another “private museum” in Paris…Musée des Arts Forains. This is a
private museum of funfair objects located within the Pavillons de Bercy in the 12th
arrondissement (district) of Paris at 53, avenue des Terroirs de France, , with temporary exhibition space
at 64, rue des Pirogues de Bercy. It is open to the public by prior
reservation. Last Christmas, I had the
opportunity to visit, as for a short time it was open to the public. The museum was founded by Jean Paul Favand, an actor
and antiques dealer, from his private collection. It opened to the public in
1996, and now contains a variety of objects dating between 1850-1950 including
14 amusement rides, 16 fair stalls and restored attractions, 18 sets
of historical works, and 1522 independent works. The collections include merry-go-rounds and carousels, German swings,
hundred-year-old bicycles, Japanese billiards, a
Parisian Waiter Race and a Hooghuys Organ, and the grand vizier Ali Pasha. It
is a paradise for people who want to be transported back in time and who have a
taste for the bizarre. On the day we
went there was circus performers, including a woman called Zaza.
Francis H Powell, is an author living near Paris, his most recent
publication is Flight of Destiny.
Flight of
destiny is a collection of short stories about misfortune. They are
characterized by unexpected final twists, that come at the end of each tale.
They are dark and surreal tales, set around the world, at different time
periods. They show a world in which anything can happen. It is hard to
determine reality and what is going on a disturbed mind. People's conceptions
about morality are turned upside down. A good person can be transformed by an
unexpected event into a bad person and then back again to their former state.
The high and mighty often deliver flawed arguments, those considered wicked
make good representations of themselves. Revenge isoften a subjectexplored.
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