Many historic houses in Paris serve as residences to foreign ambassadors and are closed to the general public. From a seventeenth-century hôtel particulier , to a Belle Époque palace, to a distinctively contemporary setting, each residence rivals the next in its beauty, art collection, and period furniture set against a backdrop of accomplished refinement.

From China and Peru to Egypt and Poland, Alain Stella invites us over the threshold of the most prestigious chancelleries and ambassadorial residences in Paris. Superb photographs, specially commissioned for this book, divulge the secrets of these previously unpublished artistic and architectural treasures.