Description

One of the last two Second Empire hotels preserved on the Champs-Élysées, built by the architect Pierre Maugin, in a neo-renaissance style thanks to the fortune of a Prussian prince for a former prostitute in search of respectability.<br> The grandly decorated salon, an example of an ostentatious style long criticized, adorned with the "day chasing away night" ceiling by the painter Paul Baudry (launched by La Païva and later hired at the Palais Garnier), a wealthy contemporary of the Impressionist painters reduced to poverty.<br> The dining room has a fantastic decor featuring a gigantic fireplace sculpted with hunting scenes of rare violence.<br><br> A unique onyx staircase in Paris. A Moorish-style bathroom (with a silver bathtub). A bedroom with a curious coffered ceiling and hanging keystones.<br><br> The astonishing story of Esther Lachman, born in a slum in Moscow, who became a marquise as a result of her marriage to a ruined cousin of the King of Portugal, then wife of a cousin of Bismarck, a very wealthy owner of mines in Silesia, and hostess of a literary salon frequented by the Goncourt brothers.<br> The splendor of a courtesan without the misery.<br><br> <b>Please note:</b><br> Please note: The ticket only covers the price of the conference.<br><br> <b>The entrance fee of 10 Euros will be payable on site, on the day of the visit, in addition to the price of the lecture visit.</b><br> The exact address will be mentioned on the confirmation. The Hotel de La Païva, the opulent residence of one of the most famous courtesans of the 19th century.