The lovely Presbytère building, designed in 1791 as a rectory for the St Louis Cathedral, serves as New Orleans’ Mardi Gras museum. You’ll find there’s more to the city’s most famous celebration than wanton debauchery – or, at least, discover the many levels of meaning behind the debauchery. There’s an encyclopedia’s worth of material on the krewes, secret societies, costumes and racial histories of the Mardi Gras tapestry, all intensely illuminating and easy to follow.
