France opens ‘Maison Elysée’ to showcase presidential history

The Elysée Palace - the home and presidential seat of the French president - has opened a new exhibition space, with a cafe and gift shop, intended to help teach presidential history to visitors.

The ‘Maison Elysée’ site is at 88, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, just opposite the Elysée courtyard in Paris.

The premises have been rented under a 20-year lease, and have been completely refurbished to the tune of €3.5 million, paid for by the Elysée itself. 

The operating budget is estimated at €1.2 million a year, and will be financed by the proceeds from sales of the shop and café.

It welcomed seven hundred visitors on the opening day.

The 600 m2 space includes: 

• A small museum dedicated to the presidential palace and history.

• A 40-seat café serving ice creams, patisseries, and chocolates designed by three-Michelin-star chef Alain Ducasse (under his brand Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse), which are made in the Elysée kitchens by palace chef Fabrice Desvignes; and his pastry chef, Lun Yi Hsing. The cafe also offers views of the main palace courtyard.

• A gift shop with French-made items, and souvenirs. Products include a Limoges-made mug bearing the traditional motto Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité, while another example is a child’s T-shirt reading ‘Enfant de la patrie’ (Child of the fatherland).

One of the site’s aims is to “showcase the excellence of French manufacturing”, states a press release from the Elysée. And it is not only aimed at tourists; the statement added that one goal is to “give every French citizen a behind-the-scenes look at a house that belongs to them by definition”.

Exhibition details

Created by designer Sarah Lavoine, the site has been designed to give visitors a taste of being inside the Elysée, even if they have never visited the real building. It includes a reconstruction of the ‘salon doré’ inside the palace itself.

At the heart of the exhibition is the iconic desk created in 1740 by celebrated furniture-maker Charles Cressent, which would go on to be used by the Presidents Charles de Gaulle and François Mitterrand.

There is also a six-minute film - fronted by presenter Stéphane Bern - which tells the construction history of the Hôtel d'Evreux, from its beginning in 1722 to the present day. The film shows how the architecture of the building has evolved.

The exhibition also includes a ‘cabinet of curiosities’, which showcases some of the diplomatic gifts received by President Emmanuel Macron from across the world. These include four wooden sculptures of women from Mozambique, a pair of cowboy spurs from Chile, and a porcelain and 22-carat gold teapot from Sri Lanka.

There is a gallery of official portraits of all of France’s Heads of state who have occupied the Elysée Palace since Adolphe Thiers, who was the first president of the Third Republic, from 1871 to 1873. 

There are also three photos of a Council of Ministers meeting (a ‘cabinet ministers’ meeting, which takes place every week), under the presidencies of Georges Pompidou, Jacques Chirac, and Mr Macron.

The ‘Macron show’?

Some critics have suggested that the Maison is more of an exhibition in honour of Mr Macron, rather than the presidency and history of the Elysée itself. Some have said that there are “too many photos” of Mr Macron in comparison to his predecessors.

But Yannick Desbois, deputy director of the Office of the President of the Republic, defended the site against the criticism. He said: “This is a museum of the presidency, not a Macron museum. We pay tribute to all the presidents.

“But the initiative did come from [Mr Macron],” he said. “The president asked me to give a physical form to the online shop that was created in 2018. Since [its launch] the online shop has generated sales of €7 million, of which €200,000 has been allocated to maintaining the Elysée's heritage.”

The White House effect?

The Maison Elysée may also have been inspired by the White House Visitor Center in the US, which opened in the Department of Commerce building in Washington DC in 1995. 

It is managed by the National Park Service and the White House Historical Association, and offers permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as a dedicated gift shop.

The White House Historical Association is also planning an interactive museum to open in September. The project has cost more than USD $80 million and includes immersive technology designed to bring visitors even closer to the White House’s history.