Musée des Monuments français (1795–1816)

You are approaching the site of the former convent of the Petits-Augustins, a location that once served as a sanctuary for France’s threatened history. During the height of the French Revolution, when revolutionary mobs were systematically destroying royal and religious monuments across the country, a painter named Alexandre Lenoir took a bold and dangerous stand. He convinced the government to allow him to gather salvaged statues, tombs, and architectural fragments within these convent walls to save them from being smashed into rubble.