Musée des Automates

Hotel Arturo Lopez, magical and historic houses the collection of automata of the City of Neuilly. The origin of this prestigious collection was a passionate man, Jacques DAMIOT, collector and antique dealer by trade. Died in September 1983, he was considered the greatest French collector of automata. In 45 years, he has assembled a collection of sixty pieces of the nineteenth century, one of the most beautiful in Europe, comparable to REUGE in Switzerland, on his death, was acquired by the city of Neuilly -sur-Seine. Upon sale of Jacques Courtois October 23, 1977 in Chartres, he acquired the famous "Snake Charmer" to decamp. He organized at his lectures and demonstrations of automatons who knew a great success with the public. Jacques DAMIOT principle was to buy only items in perfect condition as it was to leave them "in their own juice" with their costume and their mechanism of time. Thus, he never made ​​restorations harmful or upgrading parts and kept the collection in its original state. This collection provides an overview of French-made automata in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.