It turns out that Nicole Kidman’s fantastical elephant boudoir in Baz Luhrman’s 2001 motion picture, Moulin Rouge, was not a just a Hollywood embellishment added to the iconic cabaret, but in fact, a very real fixture of the Belle Epoque establishment, forgotten in the archives of Parisian history.

I found the uncaptioned black and white image, floating around on a Pinterest board of historical Paris photographs, and after a hasty Google reverse image search, I was admittedly amazed to learn that it was taken at the Moulin Rouge, circa 1900.

Of course, I went digging for more photographic evidence…

First of all, who knew the Moulin Rouge even had a garden, let alone a giant elephant in its backyard? When I think of the famous Pigalle cabaret, I think of a crimson red velvet cathedral of vice, not a leafy green garden party.

But the camera doesn’t lie, and according to records, this is how the Moulin Rouge looked during its earliest years after opening in 1889 at the foot of Montmartre (check out Dumbo’s bottom to the left of the windmill ? .