List of magic museums

There are more than two dozen notable museums concerning magic, magicians and magical apparatus, and all but one are publicly accessible.

Brick and mortar museums

• American Museum of Magic, Marshall, Michigan is the largest magic museum in the United States open to the public.^[1]
• Blois's La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin (the house of Magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin) fronting on the Royal Château de Blois, 1, Place du Château Blois 41000 “The museum displays automatons from the XIX century."^[2] As a museum of France and bearing the official label of "Musée de France", it is the only public museum in Europe which incorporates in one place collections of magic and a site for permanent performing arts.^[3][4]
• College of Magic has its Magical Arts Centre in Cape Town, South Africa It is currently resident in its own premises situated on Lansdowne Road in Claremont Cape Town. These premises were officially opened as the "Magical Arts Centre" (MAC) on 24 February 1995 by the then Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. It houses an extensive collection of stage illusions, magical props and costumes.
• Magic Circle Museum, at the Centre for the Magic Arts, the Headquarters of The Magic Circle, 12 Stephenson Way London NW1 2HD, United Kingdom^[5]
• Davenport's Magic Kingdom in Norfolk, England, houses an exhibition on the history of magic as well as a live conjuring show and a recreated sideshow act.^[6]
• Musée de la Magie in Paris, France is underneath the 16th century house of the Marquis de Sade with exhibits in the cellars.^[7][8][9]
• The History Museum at the Castle is a local history museum located at 330 East College Avenue in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin 54911. Owned and operated by the Outagamie County Historical Society (OCHS), the museum has previously operated under the names The Outagamie Museum and The Houdini Historic Center.
• The Houdini Museum, 1433 North Main Avenue, Scranton, Pennsylvania 18508.^[10] It features memorabilia, artifacts, mannequins and films of the master magician. The Houdini Tour also includes a magic show as part of the tour.^[11]
• David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, which is closed to the public, but available to researchers. It claims to be the largest collection of magic artifacts (80,000 items),^[12] notwithstanding the American Museum of Magic. It began in 1991 when Copperfield purchased the Mullholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts, which contained the world's largest collection of Houdini memorabilia.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}
• King of Magic Museum . Carrer Jonqueres ,15 08003, Barcelona, Spain. An extension of a shop that opened in 1881, exhibits include pictures and memorabilia associated with illusionists, including Carlston, Fu-Li-Chang, and Horace Goldin.^[17]
• Le Grand David and His Spectacular Magic Company at the Larcom Theatre 13 Wallis Street in Beverly, Massachusetts 09515 has three galleries of exhibits, and is also the site of the longest continuously running magic show in the world.^[18]
• Magic Castle (Sofia) in Sofia, Bulgaria, opening May, 2014.^[19]
• Martinka & Co. Museum of Magic, 85 Godwin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey 07432.^[20]
• Magic and Movie Hall of Fame, 3555 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 [phone]^[21] which included exhibits on "local acts" Lance Burton, Siegfried & Roy and David Copperfield.^[22] Closed.
• Magic Museum, Fruška Gora National Park, Serbia, containing "the largest collection in the Balkans on the history of magic art."^[23]
• Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum 31005 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334^[24]
• Ray Goulet's Mini Museum of Magic, 137 Spring Street, Watertown, Massachusetts 02742^[25]
• Museo Fournier de Naipes, Calle Cuchillería 54, 01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
• Museo del Naipe, Carrer de l'Hospital, 1, 12594 Oropesa del Mar, Spain
• Museo della Magia, Cherasco (CN), Italy^[26][27]
• Museo Nazionale della Magia, Cagliari, Italy^[28]
• Musée de la Curiosité et de l'Insolite, 39 Beaumont, 06100 Nice, France^[29]
• Museu de Arte Mágica e Ilusionismo João Peixoto dos Santos (João Peixoto dos Santos Magical Arts and Illusionism Museum), Rua Silva Bueno 519 (conjunto 42), Ipiranga, BrasiSão Paulo 04208-050, Brazil.^[30]
• Museum for Magic and Illusions is at Rue de Namur 49 5380 PONTILLAS (FERNELMONT) Brussels, Belgium.^[31]
• Norwegian Museum of Magic founded in 1997 as the "Norwegian Magician Archives", concentrating on Norwegian magicians. Oslo, Norway.^[32]
• Rossy Magic Museum, in the Balkans. Founded in 2001, it features the collection of "the late great magician and collector Dezider Repovic." It includes 20.000 articles, 3.000 magic and magician books, including the first Serbian language book about magic. Svetozar F. Ognjanovic, Novi Sad. Magician.^[33]
• Smithsonian Institution, F Street Northwest Washington D.C., DC 20004. In 1985, on the 100th anniversary of his father's birth, Harry Blackstone, Jr. donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. the original floating light bulb - Thomas Edison designed and built it - and the original Casadega Cabinet, used in the "Dancing Handkerchief" illusion by his father, Harry Blackstone. This was the first ever donation accepted by the Smithsonian in the field of magic.^[34]
• Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and Magic Museum, Los Angeles, CA.^[35] Museum in storage, seeking new location. Long out of view, the artifacts went on exhibit at the Whittier Museum for six months beginning in September 2012.^[36]
• Sveriges Magi-Arkiv is run by magician Christer Nilsson (stage name Christer el Ricco) in Nyköping, Sweden, and is the county's only magic museum.^[37]
• Teatro Museo El Rei de la Màgia, Carrer de les Jonqueres , 15 08003 Barcelona, Spain^[38] The King of Magic Museum is one of the oldest establishments in the world dedicated exclusively to sale, manufacture and teaching of illusions. In 1881 it was opened by Partagas Catalan Joaquim. In celebration of it 130th anniversary, it expanded to include a theater museum dedicated to the art of sleight of hand and the study and dissemination of illusionism. History and art, nineteenth century ephemera including hand games, posters, photographs of premier magicians, books, pictures, etc. are exhibited. Exhibitions illustrate the history, evolution of magic and its influence on Spain long before "the arrival of Harry Potter to our lives." Magic shows will include important illusionists such as Micky Conesa and Xavier Giro , winner of the 2010 Merlin Award (The ' Oscar of Magic ) .^[39]
• Zauberkasten-Museum Schönbrunner Straße 262, Im Hofe, Wien 12, nebst dem Schloß Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria. The largest magic set collection in the world, with nearly 3000 different magic sets, all from the collection of from Manfred Klaghofer. Some sets date back to the 19th century. The museum is a work-in-progress, stemming from his first collection in the 1995, and he continues to acquire new sets (some costing thousands of dollars) at the rate of two or three per week. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.^[40][41][42]
• Casa Museo de la Magia from "Magics Bufons". Located in Polinyà de Xuquer, Valencia, Spain. It exposes a lot of posters, magic objects and other curiosities, as two pairs of "dressed fleas" or the Venus de Milo carved from a grain of rice. It has two small theaters of magic, which all offer weekend shows. They also have a magic shop.

Closed museums

• Houdini Magical Hall of Fame, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Opened in May 1968 at 5019 Centre St., moved to 4983 Clifton Hill (Niagara Falls) in 1972, closed due to fire on April 30, 1995.^[43] Housed many significant items from Harry Houdini's personal collection, including a multitude of handcuffs and leg irons, a milk can escape, a wooden packing crate he used for underwater escapes, and the famed Chinese Water Torture Cell.^[44] Owned by Henry Muller, Vince Delorenzo, and partners.^[45]
• Houdini Museum, Las Vegas, started out at the Venetian, then at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada^[46][47]

Temporary exhibitions

• Before the Magic Towne House in New York City closed, some of Harry Houdini's artifacts were displayed there for thirteen years.^[48]
• Houdini: Art and Magic is an exhibition of Houdini paraphernalia and art inspired by him at Manhattan’s Jewish Museum.^[49] The show closed in New York on March 27, 2011, and was then displayed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin.^[50]
• In 2010, fifteen museums in Singapore cooperated in hosting itinerant magic shows over the entire year.^[51]

Notes

1. "American Museum of Magic". Absolute Michigan. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
2. "Blois, La Maison de la Magie". virtourist.com.
3. "Blois, The House of Magic Celebrates Ten Years". June 11, 2008.
4. "House of Magic Robert-Houdin". Museums in Central Region. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
5. "The Magic Circle U.K.". Retrieved May 12, 2014.
7. "Musée de la Magie.".
8. "Travel signposts, Paris Museum of Magic.".
9. "Keck, Gayle, Washington Post, And Now for Paris' Next Trick.". The Washington Post. 2005-06-12. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
10. "Houdini Museum.".
11. Efthimiades, Michael (August 23, 1996). Pocono Weekend. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: The Pocono News. pp. 10 and 11.
12. Braxton, Greg (2002-11-29). "Curator Copperfield". articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
13. "Forbes.com, "Houdini in the Desert" May 8, 2006". Forbes.com. 2006-10-27. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
14. "International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts - MagicPedia". Geniimagazine.com. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
15. "Tour David Copperfield's Magic Museum" (video). oprah.com. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
16. Morgan, David. "David Copperfield's Museum of Magic". CBS News. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
17. "King of Magic Museum". Retrieved 2012-10-07.
18. Matchan, Linda (March 8, 2010). "Trying to keep the magic in the air: 33 years later, time leaves its mark on Le Grand David show". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
19. "The Magic Castle in Sofia is a hotel and museum in one place". Sofia, Bulgaria. 2014-04-17. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
20. "Martinka Museum.".
21. Magic and Movie Hall of Fame, at rate Las Vegas.
22. Magic and Movie Hall of Fame at Yahoo.com.
23. "Magic Museum". magicmuseum.org. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
24. "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum". Marvin3m.com. 2010-09-16. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
25. "Magic History Resources at Magic History.com, Mini Museum of Magic". Retrieved August 1, 2011.
26. "Museo della Magia".
27. Pescatori, Vanna (05-04-2013). "A Cherasco il Museo della Magia. Biblioteca, teatro, video e le statue dei grandi miti da Copperfield a Houdini" (in Italian). Torino. Retrieved July 10, 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. "Museo Nazionale della Magia" (in Italian). Retrieved July 10, 2013.
29. Sites Et Print. "Musée de la Curiosité et de l'Insolite" (in French). Automates-concept.com. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
30. "João Peixoto dos Santos Magical Arts and Illusionism Museum" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2012-10-07.
31. "Museum for Magic and Illusions". Belgian Tourist Office. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
32. "Norwegian Museum of Magic (Norsk Tryllemuseum)" (in Norwegian). Visitoslo.com. 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
33. "Rossi Magic Museum". Retrieved 2012-10-07.
34. "Harry Blackstone Jr. donates Harry Blackstone Sr. illusions to Smithsonian.".
35. "Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and Magic Museum, Inc.". Retrieved 27 November 2011.
36. Perovich, Michael (September 16, 2012). "S.A.M. Hall Of Fame And Magic Museum Returns". Magic New Zealand. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
37. Nyman, Christina (17 October 2011). "Sweden’s Only Museum Of Magic". Från: Magic New Zealand (16.500 readers weekly). Sweden. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
38. Sierra, Lluis (10/12/2010). "Barcelona will open a museum of magic theater: The local street is packed Jonqueres to open before kings and will have a stable program". Barcelona: LaVanguardia. Retrieved August 4, 2011. Check date values in: |date= (help)
39. "El Rei De la Magia". Retrieved August 4, 2011.
40. "Zauberkasten-Museum" (in German). Retrieved June 12, 2014.
41. "Manfred Klaghofer". Genii Forum. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
42. "Who: MANFRED KLAGHOFER What: LARGEST COLLECTION OF MAGIC SETS Where: AUSTRIA". Guinness World Records. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
43. "Houdini museum destroyed". Retrieved 2013-02-19.
44. "On the Inside: At the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2013-02-19.
45. "Houdini Returns?". Retrieved 2013-02-19.
46. "Las Vegas Houdini museum closed". Wild About Harry. August 28, 2006. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
47. "Las Vegas, Nevada: Houdini Museum (Gone)". Roadside America. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
48. "Worth a Stop".
49. "Houdini: Art and Magic". The Jewish Museum. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
50. Houdini’s Art and Magic (October 28, 2010) Associated Press.
51. "Singapore events, 2010". Guidegecko.com. 2010-11-24. Retrieved 2012-02-28.