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'Archaeologist of erotica' uncovers lost world of brothels

The sign hung at 12, rue Chabanais, in the days when the building housed the most prestigious of Paris's infamous bordellos, read 'Welcome to the Chabanais: The House of All Nations'.

The brothels closed down 60 years ago and nowadays the skinny eight-storey building on a tiny street near the Louvre houses an employment agency and a bunch of flats. But right across the road, at number 11, a gallery is keeping its memories alive.

Nicole Canet, who runs a gallery-boutique of erotic pictures and historic sex toys, is holding an exhibition there on the heyday of France's legendary "maisons closes", or authorised brothels.

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)