In 1860, the city of Paris bought the garden. The Pereire brothers carried out a vast real-estate operation in one half of the garden. The other half became a park thanks to the Haussmann prefect and his engineer Alphand. The garden was inaugurated in its current configuration by the emperor Napoleon III, on August 13, 1861. Ever since only statues were added: Guy de Maupassant by the sculptor Verlet, Ambroise Thomas by Alexandre Falguière, Frederic Chopin by Jacques Froment Thomas, Charles Gounod by Antonin Mercié, Edouard Pailleron by Léopold Bernstamm. Two beautiful museums exist among the buildings which frame the garden: the Cernuschi museum devoted to Asian art and the Museum Nissim de Camondo which has a marvellous collection of furniture from the 18th century.