Blue Penny Museum

The Blue Penny Museum is dedicated to the history and art of Mauritius.  It was opened in November 2001, and the collection includes the 1847 Blue Penny and Red Penny stamps.  The stamps were bought in 1993 for $2,000,000 by a consortium of Mauritian enterprises headed by the Mauritius Commercial Bank and brought back to Mauritius after almost 150 years.  For conservation, the originals are only temporarily illuminated.  Most of the time only copies can be seen.  The museum was also founded by the Mauritius Commercial Bank and houses the original statue of Paul and Virginia, created in 1881 by Prosper d’Épinay (1836-1914).