The Lumière Institute is an association dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of film heritage. The institute is housed in the building where the cinematograph was invented, in the centre of the Monplaisir district, in a street now known as Rue du Premier-Film. All that remains today is the factory building and Villa Lumière, whose imposing profile stands out among the buildings.
The Lumière Museum pays tribute to the brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière, who invented cinema here and registered over 170 patents. At the Villa Lumière, the museum takes film lovers through the long history of moving images, from the magic lantern to the prototypes made by Louis for the first attempts at film in 1894. Masterpieces of technology are exhibited here, such as Edison’s kinetoscope, Demenÿ’s chronophotograph, the first Cinématographe Lumière and the first ten films screened on 28 December 1895 at the Grand Café in Paris. Finally, the Lumière Institute houses a large cinema hall called the Hangar du Premier-Film.
