This is a delightful, very well presented , modern museum in the Caudan Waterfront area. Start with the upper floor first. There you will find an excellent historical overview of Mauritius and Port Louis. The highlight of this floor is an original, uncancelled, example of the Blue Penny stamp issued by Mauritius. The stamp is only visible for a few minutes each hour, so when they say "Go take a Look", listen and view this little treasure. The history of the posts in Mauritius alone is well worth the price of admission. There is also a terrific, very well curated gift shop. Don't bother looking elsewhere for tasteful cards, beautiful books, hand made gifts, even nice T-shirts and polos. Even the post cards could be framed! This is also a quiet, cool, respite from the waterfront. BTW, spotless restrooms.

I really enjoyed this museum a lot, just a shame they do not sell a book with this carefully curated information. I really enjoyed it and would have loved to read more about it afterwards and look at the lovely ships again and read about the amazing bravery of our ship faring forefathers. It is also the home of 2 of the most expensive stamps in the world. $2,2 million. A consortium bought it in 1993 and brought it back to Mauritius after almost 150 years abroad. The famous 1847 Blue Penny and Red Penny stamps. They also showcase the story of Paul and Virginie beautifully. This is the Mauritian version, one can say, of Romeo and Juliet.

I was excited at the prospect of visiting this Blue Penny Museum I had never heard of this stamp certainly the Black Penny Stamp is most notorious with the best portrait of Queen Victoria printed in 1840. I was surprised to see the 1848 Mauritian Penny Blue Stamp with Queen Victoria which is in fact twopence and known as the Penny Blue valued at circa 2 million, with the penny stamp in orange /red. The remainder of the upstairs floor is dedicated to the geographical evolution of Mauritius, it's naval battles, ships, navigation encompassing many ancient maps, paintings and other artefacts. The ground floor is entirely dedicated to the delightful mythical tale of Paul and Virginie written by Jaques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre in which he recounts the beautiful story of these young Mauritian children growing up a most moving story indeed no intention of a spoiler a must read. This book can no longer be bought in Mauritius it is still studied at school there, a true literary masterpiece. The major surprise was the wonderful white marble statue by Prosper d'Epinay which adorns the centre of the ground floor and depicts these young lovers a gift returned to Mauritius. This statue was bought at Southeby on 20 November 1997 for £177,500 lot 143.I loved the arrangement of all the various paintings illustrating various scenes of this romantic tale in fact two rooms are dedicated to this most enchanting love story. Further point of interest were the various artefacts and memorabilia created around the Paul and Virginie romance such as plates, jigsaw puzzles, cards, books items to treasure.