The Garden at the Albert Kahn Museum

After years of renovation, the garden of the Albert Kahn museum in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt is now open again! The museum itself remains closed until 2021 (!), but the magnificent garden is accessible to the public again, at least.

The namesake of the museum, Albert Kahn, was a banker / philanthropist that lived through the turbulent first half of the 20th century. While maintaining a successful career as a banker, he devoted a lot of his time and resources into a personal project called “Les Archives de la Planète.” Kahn sent photographers all over the world to document lives in different cultures and keep their photos in his archives. And it is thanks to these photos that people are drawn to this museum.

The garden is a reflection of Kahn’s interest in different cultures. It is particularly famous for its Japanese garden. I was pleasantly surprised by the authenticity of this Japanese garden. In spite of the huge crowd that came to appreciate the newly renovated garden under a gorgeous autumnal sun, the Japanese garden was peaceful and filled me with nostalgic feelings for Japan.