Hotel Biron

The Hôtel Biron is a historic mansion in Paris's 7th arrondissement, known today as the Musée Rodin. The building was constructed between 1727 and 1732 to designs by the architect Jean Aubert and originally housed the financier Abraham Peyrenc de Moras. Unlike many other Parisian mansions of the period, it was conceived as a freestanding building and is surrounded by extensive grounds. Its architecture is distinguished by richly decorated rocaille elements and two elliptical salons, set as pavilions at the corners of the garden façade. The interiors were originally adorned with medallions and paintings by the royal court painter François Lemoyne. After the builder's death, the estate changed hands several times, passing among others to the Duchess of Maine and later to the Marshal of Biron, from whom the house takes its present name.

Over time, the building served a variety of purposes. During the Napoleonic era, it was the seat of the papal legate and the Russian ambassador. From 1820, a religious order converted it into a boarding school for girls from aristocratic families, removing many of the original luxurious furnishings and adding a chapel. After the school closed following the separation of church and state in 1905, the building was threatened with demolition. The sculptor Auguste Rodin, however, rented several rooms on the ground floor, which he used as a studio. He actively campaigned for the estate to become a museum dedicated to his work. After extensive restoration work and the building's acquisition by the French state, the Musée Rodin opened in 1919.

Today, you can visit the museum on the quiet Rue de Varenne and take inspiration from the interplay between Rodin's sculptures and the historic setting. Since World War II, the museum has been able to buy back some of the original decorations and paintings and return them to their rightful places. The gardens, which were once laid out as a small English-style park, were redesigned in the 1990s to show off Rodin's larger works to best advantage. The ensemble of the magnificent mansion and its expansive grounds offers a unique glimpse into the history of the site and the work of one of the most important sculptors of the modern era.