Fire at Deyrolle

It’s a sad day in Paris. A landmark dating to 1831, and one of our favorite places to immerse ourselves in decay and general weirdness, was severely damaged by fire yesterday morning. Deyrolle, the taxidermy shop and walk-in cabinet of curiosities, was the site of a major blaze yesterday morning that took 55 firefighters and 14 engines to extinguish.

I wrote about Deyrolle several years ago on Interesting Thing of the Day. It had recently been renovated, and although Morgen had a chance to see it in its new (if brief) configuration, I did not. According to the store’s official blog (original French/Google English translation), their massive collections of mounted butterflies and other insects were destroyed, along with many of their stuffed animals (though I don’t know specifically which ones). The owners insist that Deyrolle will rise from the ashes (stuffed Phoenix, anyone?), but it breaks my heart that visitors will never again be able to see the old shop as it once was.