2023-06-21 10:10:03
When you stand in Marseille’s oldest shop, the general store Maison Empereur, and are overwhelmed by the abundance of cooking utensils, tools and toys, historical household goods and fragrant cosmetics, you say: “You could spend a whole day here”, whereupon the saleswoman replies: “And one night.” And that is meant quite literally.
Because for several years there has been an apartment for guests directly behind the shop, which is now run by the seventh generation. The Maison Empereur is located in the heart of Marseille, between cafes, souvenir shops and traffic noise. But if you visit the Empereurs, whether for shopping or to stay overnight, you leave all that behind. And travels to a time when cooking pots shone golden, ladies wore flowered shower caps and nails were forged by hand.
Quincaillerie – This beautiful French word means ‘household goods store’. : Image: Maison Empereur
Every generation has expanded the shop according to their own ideas, says Virginie Noyau, who takes care of renting out the apartment. You can see that not only in the range, which today includes 50,000 items from pruning shears to rare perfumes (“If you like, you can perfume yourself like Marie Antoinette”) to children’s toys. You can also see it in the nested rooms, which are connected to each other via narrow corridors, stairs and ramps. In one room, cast-iron casseroles and pans the size of wagon wheels are stacked on wooden tables, in the next there are tea towels from bales and sachets of laundry blue. Nostalgia is trendy, but here it lacks any kitsch or glitz. The store not only looks old, it is. The nearly two centuries that have passed since the company was founded in 1827 have left their mark. The plaster on the stucco ceiling is peeling, old wooden doors have been installed elsewhere, because: “Everything used to be recycled.”
Gästeapartment of the Emperor’s House : Bild: Emperor’s House
The Empereurs started out as “quincaillerie”. Hardware such as the hand-forged nails are still sold today. By piece. Working with old master craftsmen – often the last of their kind – is close to the heart of the family. Some things are only made to order, such as the hinges and door fittings that take up an entire wall on the upper floor. You feel like you are in a museum. With the difference that you can touch everything here.
The same applies to the apartment that the current boss has set up behind the shop. The way to the 19th century (which served as inspiration) is via a narrow spiral staircase. Through a wooden door you step into the dim, flowery-scented silence of the apartment. As was usual in the past, the walls are painted dark – which is by no means oppressive, but rather inviting and calming. Forget the hustle and bustle of Marseille raging outside in the streets. No television, no radio. To pass the time, you can marvel at the historical tools that serve as wall decorations, immortalize yourself with a quill in the guest book or rock in the turned rocking chairs. For the furnishing, the boss brought out old furniture, photos and documents from the family fund.
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The fact that she “does not make any compromises when it comes to projects close to her heart” becomes apparent when you enter the bathroom, where a washbasin and “baignoire sarcophage” await, a sarcophagus-thin bathtub made of copper and wood. But she allows her guests a few goodies: the toilet is modern, but it has to be hidden in a wooden chest. And if you rummage through the kitchen cupboards, you will find a kettle and coffee machine. They sleep between linen sheets, under the watchful eyes of seven generations of empereurs. The eighth, says Virginie Noyau, was born in November.
Das Maison Empereur befindet sich in der Rue des Récolettes in Marseille, Apartment ab 200 Euro, empereur.fr
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