Visite guidée : l'Hôtel de la Païva

Esther Lachmann, Marchioness Thérèse de la Païva or Countess Blanche von Donnersmarck, does not refer to 3 different women, but to a single one! This multiplicity of identities illustrates the social trajectory of an exceptional woman. Her private mansion on the Champs-Élysées matches this success, even if its lavish decor betrays the flashy side of this former courtesan.

Nothing foretold that Esther Lachmann, daughter of a weaver of Polish-Jewish descent coming from the Moscow ghettos, would become one of the great courtesans of 19th-century Paris. Her three consecutive marriages propelled her up the social ladder until she became the fabulously wealthy Countess von Donnersmarck.

Among the wonders of this mansion, which has preserved its furniture, you will discover the famous onyx bathtub and the magnificent staircase, also in onyx. Major artists worked on the decoration of the mansion, such as the painter Baudry, the sculptors Dalou, Barrias and Carrier-Belleuse.

Through this mansion, which marks the culmination of the courtesan's career, she who was known as La Païva, we will trace step by step her journey, her romances, her artistic and intellectual aspirations, between 1819 and 1884.

Finally, we will evoke the guardians of these premises and of the memory of La Païva, the Traveller's Club, owner of the club since its foundation in 1904.