Palais Galliera

The Musee Galliera, officially the Palais Galliera, is the City of Paris fashion museum, set inside a late 19th-century private mansion opposite the Palais de Tokyo. Duchess Marie de Brignole-Sale, Duchesse de Galliera, had it built from 1879 by Leon Ginain to display her art collection, which was later sent back to Genoa. From the 1970s onward the building has housed the city's fashion archive, around 200,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to today. Because textiles are light-sensitive the collection is never on permanent show; instead the museum works with major curated exhibitions on couturiers such as Chanel, Balenciaga or Azzedine Alaia. A basement extension opened in 2020 almost doubled the exhibition area.