The visit starts on the ground floor of Kengo Kuma’s new building and continues on in the restored historical buildings, some of them open for the first time to the public. This immersive experience calls for both introspection as well as imagination, thanks to the original scenography designed by Atelier Scénorama. Assuming its contemporary character, this participatory scenography helps visitors to discover the art of wandering, strolling and family entertainment through its many interactive devices.

Albert Kahn’s pacifist project, and his desire to turn his collections from the Archives de la Planète into a sort of mirror of the world, was the inspiration for this scenography. Installations, furnishing and signage relay one another, plunging visitors into the encyclopedic and abundant nature of the collections: the landscaped garden, films and autochromes. A few domestic details remind visitors that the visit takes place on the patron’s property. Here, you are in Albert Kahn’s home!

Visitors are invited to discover the Albert Kahn’s world, from his personality to his foundations, through an intimate portrayal ending with his visual documentation project: the Archives de la Planète.

These thousands of images, both still and moving, offer a one-of-a-kind aesthetic experience and are interpreted so that visitors can better understand the context in which they were produced.

All around the room is a gigantic interactive inventory wall with more than 2,000 autochromes reproduced in their original 9x12 cm format, thus providing an immersive experience of the collections.

Invented by the Lumière brothers, the autochrome and cinematograph were employed by the Archives de la Planète’s camera operators in order to record life in all its forms.

The Fabrique des Images retraces the backgrounds of some of these talented explorers and reveals, from all angles, their equipment and working conditions in the field.

This site, where the autochrome plates from the Archives de la Planète were originally stored, now includes a screening booth.

Visitors can thus voyage from the comfort of their armchair and experience a screening such as Albert Kahn loved to organize.

This space, also dedicated to contemporary creation, offers guest artists to create a work based on the idea of archives and inventories.

The side wings of the greenhouse illustrated the importance of the garden in Albert Kahn’s political, social and philosophical project.

A laboratory of germinating ideas and initiatives, the garden was both a delightful spot for the banker’s special guests and an inexhaustible subject for photographers, revealing the power of the living world, which was so important to Albert Kahn.

From the past to the present, the Vosges barn compares the expertise of gardeners during Albert Kahn’s lifetime and the environmentally friendly management techniques of a heritage garden.

 A video triptych retraces the garden’s history and the challenges of this exceptional site.

As for the photographic herbarium, it magnifies the botanical wealth and specificity of the vegetation that composes the mix-style gardens.

Familiarize yourself with the museum’s collections in the Salon des Familles (access included with your entry ticket).

Located on the 1^st floor of the museum, the Salon des Familles awaits!

Children and adults can spend a pleasant moment together thanks to three interactive mediation displays making it possible for you to discover Albert Kahn’s project, as well as a lounge brightened up with games and books for children.