The Musée Cinéma and Miniature

This little quirky museum is about 50 metres from our apartment and is housed in an impressive Renaissance building. If you like movies, and I do, it is definitely worth a visit. There are the original sets from movies that have been reconstructed in the museum, and so many props and costumes from many well known movies it is impossible to list them all. There are also models and prosthetic masks of a range of characters such as the original Ewok, the Chuckie doll, The Mask, Mrs Doubtfire, John Malkovich and many more. It has a section devoted to Beetlejuice and Tim Burton’s work, and there is also a room on Ghostbusters.

There were nine exhibition rooms in total and the final two were full of miniature shops, ateliers, buildings and other scenes from the past in Lyon, as well as miniature items. They are very intricate and are so well done. The majority were made by Dan Ohlmann, who was a cabinet maker and sculptor in his twenties. In his thirties he became an interior designer and also built sets for the theatre and Opera. A client suggested he make models of his work and, as they say, the rest is history. He became interested in miniatures, and these have become his passion. Dan is also the owner of the museum. It was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours on an overcast morning.Read more