Musée Jacquemart-André

Look up at this building for a moment. The ornate stonework, the tall windows, the sheer confidence of it all. Édouard André, heir to a banking dynasty, commissioned this mansion in 1869 on the brand-new Boulevard Haussmann. The architect, Henri Parent, had lost the competition for the Opéra Garnier to Charles Garnier. This palace was his revenge, and you can feel it in every gilded detail.

When Édouard hired a young painter named Nélie Jacquemart to paint his portrait in 1872, neither of them could have predicted what would follow. They fell in love, married in 1881, and spent the next decades travelling through Europe, Italy, the Middle East, and the Far East, hunting down masterpieces. Botticelli, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Van Dyck. They had no children. The collection was their legacy.

After Édouard died, his nephews tried to destroy Nélie by accusing her of embezzling his fortune. She won the case, packed her bags, went on another world trip, and came back with even more art.

In her will, she donated everything to the Institut de France, with one firm condition: the museum had to be open seven days a week. It still is. Some legacies really do last.