Nicolas Flamel, alchimiste de papier

Look for

• Flamel's tombstone

  Look for the carved line calling him "jadis écrivain", a former scribe, above the list of houses and rents he left to Paris churches and hospitals.

• Flamel's will

  A document more than a metre long, lent by the Archives nationales, recording his gifts to the blind poor of the Quinze-Vingts hospital.

• The Livre Flamel

  Lent by the university library in Bologna, it is the first text to tie Flamel's name to alchemy, decades after he died.

• The Livre des Figures hiéroglyphiques

  Published in 1612 under Flamel's name, nearly two centuries after his death, one of the forged texts that spread the legend.

• The closing reading room

  The route ends in a space with videos, music and a shelf of books for sitting down with the legend.

Good for

• An Hour Or Less
• Evening Visits
• Locals Who've Seen It All
• Nerding Out

Skip if

You came for the wizard: the show argues Flamel never practised alchemy and leans on archives and old books.

With kids

Under-18s get in free, as do EU residents up to 25, so most families pay only for the adults.