The Mausoleum of Lek & Sowat

Lek & Sowat Mausoleum (finally) opens to the public

From October 1 to November 7, 2025, the City of Paris is offering a unique opportunity to visit the Mausoleum of Lek & Sowat, a mythical site of urban culture located at Porte de la Villette (19th arrondissement), free of charge.

In 2010, artist duo and urban explorers Lek & Sowat took over a 40,000 m² former supermarket, inviting some 30 graffiti artists to create a vast ephemeral sanctuary for urban art. Inaccessible ever since, this clandestine site has become a cult site, revealed in 2012 by a stop-motion film (music by Phillip Glass), an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo and a book published by Éditions Alternatives. Arte even devoted an episode of Tracks to it.

This opening, made possible by the Renault Fund for Art and Culture, marks a world first: a project born in the shadows becomes accessible to all.

Today, the Mausoleum reappears as a living manifesto of French graffiti, but also as a testimony to a decade of experimentation between urban art, local memory and underground culture.

Practical info: free visits (booking essential), Wednesday, Thursday and weekends, 10am to 5pm (ages 12 and up).