The short answer: visitors really could go naked at Paradis naturistes—“Naturist Paradises”—but only during selected, separately organized sessions at Marseille’s Mucem. The exhibition itself was a temporary cultural-history show, not a permanently clothing-optional museum or a sex-themed attraction. It ran at Fort Saint-Jean from July 3 through December 9, 2024; the special nude visits took place on selected dates from July through November 2024 and are no longer a current museum program.
A museum exhibition with a very unusual invitation
At most exhibitions about nudity, visitors remain fully clothed while looking at photographs, films, paintings, sculptures and historical objects. Marseille’s Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée—better known as Mucem—temporarily reversed that arrangement.
For selected after-hours sessions, naturists were invited to visit Paradis naturistes without clothes. The event was organized with the Fédération française de naturisme (FFN), the Association naturiste phocéenne/PPNP and the PACA-Corse region. Participants could view the exhibition naked, apart from their shoes. The shoes-only rule was practical: the museum’s wooden floors created a risk of splinters or injury.
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That distinction matters. Visitors were not generally naked during the exhibition’s normal opening hours, and the museum did not become a daily clothing-optional attraction. Ordinary visitors attended clothed. Nudity was associated with limited, separately scheduled sessions, generally held when the museum was otherwise closed.
Is the exhibition still open?
No. Paradis naturistes closed at Mucem’s Fort Saint-Jean site on December 9, 2024. The nude-visit program began on July 16, 2024 and ran on selected dates through November 22, 2024. As of 2026, there is no evidence in the supplied official material that these museum sessions continue as a recurring program.
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During the exhibition’s run, Mucem listed normal opening hours as every day except Tuesday, from 10:00 to 20:00, with standard admission of €11 and reduced and family rates. Those historical prices and opening hours should not be treated as current ticket information.
What the nude visits were like
Contemporary reporting described the sessions as controlled museum visits rather than spontaneous public nudity. The August 2024 visit reported by AFP attracted approximately 80 people. Participants moved through galleries containing photographs, paintings, sculptures, films, magazines and other material related to naturist communities. Some visitors wore a sarong, while others went completely unclothed except for footwear.
The unusual feature was therefore not simply that people removed their clothes. It was the setting: a historic fort, a curated museum exhibition, advance registration, a limited schedule, and a partnership with established naturist organizations. Participants were not merely looking at representations of naturist life; for a short time, they entered a shared social environment modeled on the subject being examined.
That participatory element also explains why the event attracted attention. Museums regularly display nude bodies as art or documentary evidence. Mucem’s special sessions asked visitors to consider their own bodies—and the social rules surrounding them—as part of the exhibition experience.
What visitors saw inside Paradis naturistes
Mucem presented the show as a social and cultural history of naturism. It included around 600 items, including:
- historic and contemporary photographs;
- films and audiovisual material;
- magazines, periodicals and books;
- paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures;
- everyday objects connected with naturist communities; and
- documents from community archives and public and private collections.
The loans came from naturist archives and collections in France and Switzerland. Institutions and collections associated with the project included the Centre Pompidou’s Musée national d’art moderne, the Louvre, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Musée Bourdelle, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, the Musée de l’Éphèbe et d’archéologie sous-marine in Agde, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, the Cinémathèque de Paris, INA, departmental and municipal archives, Héliopolis on Île du Levant, the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Swiss National Library in Bern, the Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur, the Cinémathèque de Berne and the Fondazione Monte Verità in Ascona.
The exhibition was also part of the Grand Arles Express program connected with the Rencontres d’Arles, linking its history of the body and photography to the wider photographic and cultural calendar of southern France.
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Naturism was presented as more than going without clothes
One of the exhibition’s central questions was whether naturism and nudism mean exactly the same thing. Mucem treated “naturism” as a broad and historically changing movement rather than a single uniform practice.
For early advocates, removing clothing was only one part of a wider program. Naturist and health reformers reacted against urbanization, industrialization and what they saw as unhealthy modern living. Their programs could include:
- contact with nature;
- fresh air and sunlight;
- swimming and water bathing;
- outdoor exercise;
- plant-based or vegetarian diets;
- hygiene and natural therapies; and
- rejection of conventional judgments about the body.
In that historical context, nudity was often described as a route toward health, equality, simplicity and bodily acceptance. The exhibition did not claim that every naturist community shared the same beliefs. Instead, it showed how different groups attached different meanings to communal nudity and life in nature.
Why France became associated with naturist tourism
Mucem’s account traces important intellectual roots of modern naturism to late-19th-century Germany and Switzerland. French communities developed particularly strongly between the two world wars.
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France’s role was shaped partly by geography: a temperate climate, Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines, and large areas suitable for dedicated communities and holiday centers. But geography alone does not explain the movement’s history. In France, public display of the unclothed body was heavily stigmatized and censored. As a result, many early communities were established in enclosed or semi-private settings such as private estates, castles and islands.
That combination—desirable outdoor environments and designated private spaces—helped create the infrastructure for French naturist tourism. Mucem described France as the world’s leading tourist destination for naturists, but that should be understood as the museum’s characterization, not as an uncontested official global ranking. Contemporary reporting noted that no authoritative worldwide ranking exists.
Héliopolis and the Île du Levant
One of the key places highlighted in the exhibition was Héliopolis on the Île du Levant, an island community established in the early 1930s by doctors André and Gaston Durville.
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The Durvilles’ project was framed around simple living, sunlight, health and contact with nature. It illustrates an important point about the history of French naturism: early communities often presented themselves as health or lifestyle experiments, not simply as places where people could sunbathe without clothes.
Héliopolis also demonstrates why islands and private compounds were significant. They offered a degree of separation from ordinary public life while allowing residents and visitors to pursue a different relationship with clothing, the body and the natural environment.
Was the exhibition pornographic?
No. Mucem explicitly described the exhibition as non-pornographic and non-explicit. It contained many images of fully nude bodies, but the curatorial subject was naturism as a social, historical and cultural phenomenon.
The show was not prohibited to minors on the basis of its subject matter. Its imagery included documentary and artistic representations of nudity, while its interpretation focused on community, nature, health, equality and changing attitudes toward the body.
Mucem acknowledged that highly sexualized or libertine communities also exist around Cap d’Agde, but said that this aspect was addressed only briefly and without explicit imagery. That separation is important: the existence of sexualized forms of adult tourism does not make naturism as a whole a sexual practice, and the exhibition did not present itself as an erotic attraction.
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France does not have a general rule allowing unrestricted public nudity. French tourism guidance explains that the law distinguishes sexual exhibition from naturism practiced in places specifically designated for it. Naturist centers are private areas, and the rules about when nudity is expected or permitted can vary from one venue to another.
Mucem’s curatorial material also discussed the legal framework introduced in 1994, which focuses on “sexual exhibition” rather than the older offense of public indecency. That does not mean that nudity is automatically lawful everywhere. Outside authorized or designated settings, public nudity can still create legal problems.
This context helps explain the structure of the Mucem events. They were not an invitation to undress anywhere in the museum or around Marseille. They were controlled, ticketed sessions, organized with naturist bodies and held under the museum’s own conditions.
Who organized and designed the exhibition?
The principal curators were:
- Bernard Andrieu, philosopher and professor at Université Paris Cité;
- Jean-Pierre Blanc, director of Villa Noailles;
- Amélie Lavin, Mucem chief curator responsible for the “Bodies, appearances, sexualities” area; and
- David Lorenté, an audiovisual and multimedia systems engineer and doctoral researcher associated with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Julie Liger and Thomas Lequeu were associated curators, and the Trafik agency created the scenography. The curatorial team’s backgrounds underline the exhibition’s interdisciplinary approach: it combined philosophy, art history, photography, audiovisual material, social history and the experience of naturist communities.
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Although the physical exhibition has ended, its catalog offers the most direct way to explore the project. Mucem published a 240-page paperback in co-edition with Éditions de La Martinière and Éditions du Mucem. It was edited under the direction of Bernard Andrieu and Amélie Lavin and carries ISBN 979-1-04-011990-6.
Mucem listed the price at €35 during the exhibition period. Because the show closed in 2024, availability, language, seller and price should be checked before purchase. This is best understood as an exhibition catalog and cultural-history book—not as a general nudist travel guide.
If you want to explore the exhibition further, the official Mucem publication listing is the appropriate place to verify current availability and publication details.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the story gets wrong when reduced to a headline
The headline “a nudist exhibit where visitors can go naked” is accurate only with several qualifications:
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- It was temporary: the exhibition ended on December 9, 2024.
- The nude access was limited: it applied to selected special sessions, not ordinary daily opening hours.
- It was organized: the visits were run with the FFN and partner naturist organizations.
- Shoes remained on: participants were asked to keep footwear on because of the wooden floors.
- It was not a sex show: Mucem framed the exhibition as a non-pornographic history of naturism.
- France is not uniformly clothing-optional: naturism is generally expected to take place in designated or authorized settings.
The real novelty was the meeting of two normally separate experiences. The museum displayed the naked body as an object of art, documentation and historical debate, while the special sessions allowed visitors to make their own bodies part of the social setting under discussion.
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Sources and historical reference points
The factual framework for this article is based on Mucem’s exhibition and event information, Mucem’s curatorial material, contemporary AFP and Guardian reporting, the Rencontres d’Arles description, and official French tourism guidance on naturism. The exhibition dates, nude-session dates and participation rules refer to the 2024 program and should not be read as current booking information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could visitors really go naked at the Mucem exhibition?
Yes, but only during selected special nude-viewing sessions organized with the French Naturist Federation and partner organizations. Visitors were generally clothed during normal museum hours, and shoes were required during the nude sessions.
Is “Naturist Paradises” still open in Marseille?
No. The exhibition ran from July 3 to December 9, 2024, and its special nude visits ended on selected dates by November 22, 2024. It is not a current recurring museum program.
Was the exhibition pornographic?
No. Mucem described it as a non-pornographic cultural and social history of naturism. It included many images of nude bodies but no explicitly sexual or pornographic display, according to the museum’s curatorial material.
What was shown in “Paradis naturistes”?
The approximately 600 exhibits included photographs, films, magazines, books, everyday objects, paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures from naturist archives and public and private collections in France and Switzerland.
Does French law allow public nudity everywhere?
No. French guidance distinguishes sexual exhibition from naturism practiced in designated settings. Rules vary by venue, and nudity outside authorized or designated areas can create legal problems.
The Bottom Line
Paradis naturistes was a temporary Mucem exhibition about the history and culture of naturism, not a permanent nude museum. The special shoes-on, after-hours visits gave a limited number of participants the chance to experience the exhibition unclothed, but that program ended in 2024. Its lasting interest lies in the question it posed: what changes when people stop merely looking at images of naturist life and briefly become part of the social scene being documented?
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