Musée du Barreau de Paris

The Musée du Barreau de Paris is devoted to the history of the Paris legal profession and is housed in the vaulted cellar rooms of the historic Hôtel de la Porte. The seventeenth-century building was restored in the early 1980s. The collection includes manuscripts and artifacts from major historical trials, among them the proceedings against Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Émile Zola, and Michel Ney and Pierre Cambronne. Of particular note are notes on the oral arguments of renowned jurists such as Claude François Chauveau-Lagarde, Léon Gambetta, and Raymond Poincaré. The legal-history displays are complemented by a diverse art collection of paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs that reflect the life of the Paris bar.