PARIS, FRANCE: Thick stone walls, cool, slightly damp air, in an underground vault in an old part of Paris. The Rue Saint Paul is home to the Musée de la Magie - the Museum of Magic. Visitors to the museum, especially the many young ones, hold their breath in anticipation as they descend the steps into a world of illusion, magic and tricks of the senses.

A unique collection of ancient scientific games, old posters from the early twentieth century, copper engravings, mechanical slot-machines, famous magic tricks and historical objects all tell the fascinating story of magicians, conjurers and illusionists.

Some of the classic magic tricks like "Sawing the Lady in Half" or "The Vanishing Lady" go back more than a hundred years, as visitors discover when they examine the ornamentally decorated magic props. It shows that, even then, magicians used the very latest technology to create the perfect illusion. Now, visitors soon fall under the spell as they gaze in awe at the collection of optical illusions, magic wands and boxes of magic tricks, as well as wonderful posters that were once just everyday advertising material but now could easily be displayed in any art museum. Anyone who wanted to try their hand as a psychic back in the 19th century, but who lacked the necessary skills, simply needed the right equipment (preserved in glass cases in this museum) to make their secret messages appear as if by magic. One display case is dedicated to the country's most famous magician, Jean-Eug�ne Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), who is considered to be the father of modern magic. His theater was one of the capital's most popular attractions.

There is also a good deal of magic in the way that the visitors are told about the great illusions and illusionists. A guidePORT system "magically" triggers 13 narrative texts in five languages - automatically and individually for each visitor. The system demonstrates its live performance qualities in a presentation in the "Salle de Spectacle," where the visitors are transformed into spellbound sorcerer's apprentices. Magical sound indeed for the Musée de la Magie!