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Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

The Musée Vivant du Fromage is due to open its doors in early June, promising a unique immersive and interactive journey into France’s ‘culinary and terroir heritage’.

Published: 15 March 2024 14:16 CET

Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

(Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP)

Paris will soon be home to a cheese museum.

The venue, on Rue Saint-Louis en l’Île, in the fourth arrondissement, will open to visitors on June 3rd, sending – no doubt – clouds of cheesy odours wafting daily down the street.

It will be at the same location as the former restaurant ‘Nos Ancêtres Les Gaulois’ (Our ancestors the Gauls), with the objective of becoming “an essential meeting place” for cheese lovers, as well as both novices and professionals within the industry.

Here are a few things to know about the new cheese museum;

It will be interactive

Fans of camembert, chèvre, brie, morbier, Roquefort and brebis, assemble! The museum promises an educational and fully interactive tour of France’s historic cheese heritage, including the science and varied tradition of cheese-making.

The first portion will give an overview of the ‘culture’ of cheese. Then, you will learn about its history, as well as how it is made and finish off with a tasting (dégustation).

READ MORE: Best Briehaviour: Your guide to French cheese etiquette

There’s a dairy and creamery

Part of the tour features a fully functional dairy, where visitors can witness cheese being produced before their very eyes.

There are two goals for this part of the museum – to help people discover the different regions of France and their iconic cheeses, as well as to encourage young people to consider careers in the farming and dairy industry, which is enduring something of a recruitment crisis in France.

You will also be able to purchase cheese and souvenirs at the museum’s boutique.

It can host private events

The museum can be booked for private catered events for up to 150 people in the evenings, from 7pm, with or without the services of a cheese expert, who can guide guests through tastings and demonstrations.

READ ALSO 7 tips for buying French cheese

Tickets are advertised at €20 for adults and €10 for children. For more information and to book a visit, log on to website of the Musée Vivant du fromage. Blessed are the cheese makers!

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Backstage artisans keep Moulin Rouge kicking

The sails of the 135-year-old cabaret in the Montmartre district of Paris collapsed last month — the cause remains unknown.

But with some 1,700 spectators still coming every evening, the show must go on. And while the 60-strong troupe of “Doriss Girls” — named after legendary choreographer Doris Haung — get all the attention, creating and maintaining their costumes is another huge and highly skilled job.

The show has daunting annual requirements: nearly 1,000 tailor-made outfits each requiring up to 250 hours of assembly, 800 pairs of shoes, and not forgetting the three kilometres of ostrich-feather boas.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about Paris’ iconic Moulin Rouge

The clacking of sewing machines backstage is a near-constant soundtrack before and after — and sometimes during — shows.

“We are on every evening. The costumes wear out… But the show must always be the same, at the highest quality,” the cabaret’s general director, Jean-Victor Clerico, 38, told AFP.

In the same family for four generations, the Moulin Rouge started buying up small artisan workshops in the 2000s — partly experts in featherwork and embroidery — that were struggling to survive in modern-day Paris.

“These artisans are a living heritage that risked disappearing, and they are essential for the show,” said Clerico.

“It was the duty of the Moulin to perpetuate their existence and allow the transmission of their knowledge to younger generations,” he added.

Mine Verges, 88, a costume designer since the 1960s, was one of the first to come under the Moulin’s umbrella.

Her workshop supplies and maintains the troupe, as well as many other clients.

“The most complicated costumes are those of the cabaret. Everything must be much more solid than normal clothing, and when there are feathers, it must above all be pleasant for the dancers,” she told AFP.

“Le Moulin was the first cabaret with whom I worked and it will be the last,” she said, adding that she was pleased her savoir-faire will be passed down.

Featherwork

Supplier to haute couture houses such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton, Maison Fevrier was set up in 1929 and is the last featherwork workshop in the heart of Paris.

Its “plumasserie” (fine feather work) has been officially recognised as a “living heritage” by the French government.

It became part of the Moulin family in 2009 and handles some three tonnes of ostrich, pheasant and rooster feathers for the cabaret each year.

Embroidery is handled by Atelier Valentin using the ancestral technique of Luneville crochet and chain stitch.

“The marvellous has always fascinated me. There is no limit to what you can embroider: sequins, pearls, rhinestones, repurposed metal pieces… The only imperative for a stage costume is to be strong,” said its director, Caroline Valentin, whose other clients including the Paris Opera, Disney, Givenchy and the Academie Francaise.

Shoes are another integral part of the show, especially for the energetic high-kicking antics of the Can-Can that conclude every evening.

Clairvoy, a cobblers founded in 1945, has been part of the Moulin’s operation since 2007.

Nicolas Maistriaux, 45, and his team make the troupe’s shoes, taking up to 60 hours to assemble each pair, not counting their maintenance and renewal when the dancers’ heels wear them out.

Kylie Minogue also called on Maison Clairvoy for her recent tour.

“Our jobs are rewarding beyond anything,” said Valentin. “We have the absolutely immense chance to create beauty… That’s what artistic craftsmanship is all about.”

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