Fodor's Expert Review Blue Penny Museum

The capital's best museum, Blue Penny, showcases prestigious collections that give visitors insight into the historical and cultural diversity of Mauritius. The museum’s pride resides in two issues of post office stamps dating back to 1847. Considered by many philatelists to be highly precious items, they are only lit up for ten minutes every hour to preserve their color. Blue Penny Museum also displays old marine maps, sculptures, engravings, paintings, and old documents recounting the island’s cultural wealth. In fact, visitors are compelled to follow the explorers and learn more about the successive occupation of the island, at the crossroad of civilizations from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Combining historical facts and local legends, this one-of-a-kind museum also houses a marble sculpture inspired by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s novel Paul et Virginie.