Tours Museum of Fine Arts

Among the most beautiful sites of the Val de Loire is the former palace of the Archbishops of Tours, classified Historic Monument, today Museum of Fine Arts.

• History:

• The main wing of the former palace of the Archbishopric, built in 1767, is a large classical building with pediment and attic with, to the east, a terrace overlooking the gardens and the park. This sober architecture preserves the traces of edifices which succeeded from Antiquity until the eighteenth century. Gallo-Roman rampart and tower (4th century), vestiges of the church Saint Gervais - saint Protais (4th-12th centuries), room of the General States (XII^e-XVIII^e centuries), former palace of the XVIIth century. On the eve of the Revolution, the courtyard was closed by a hemicycle preceded by a monumental gate forming a triumphal arch, while the former Salle des Etats was transformed into a chapel with an antique colonnade.
• After 1789, the palace of the archbishops became theater, central school, library and depots of confiscated works of art. During the Empire and throughout the 19th century, the buildings were once again assigned to the archbishop's palace. It was not until 1910, when the town became the owner of the site, that the collections were reinstated in the old archiepiscopal palace.

• Collections:

• The oldest collection of the museum consists of works seized in 1794, in churches and convents, in particular the great abbeys of Marmoutier, Bourgueil and La Riche, as well as paintings and furniture from the castles of Chanteloup and Of Richelieu. Among the most famous are Blanchard, Boucher, Boulogne, Houel, La Fosse, Lamy, Le Sueur, Parrocel, Restout.
• Established officially in 1801, the museum benefits from the sending by the Central Museum, future Louvre, of thirty paintings including a series of reception pieces from the Royal Academy of Painting. It is at this time that the museum receives the Ex-Voto from Rubens and the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance which are the two panels of Andrea Mantegna.
• During the 19th century, the city of Tours acquired two important lots of paintings where the French and Italian eighteenth century is well represented. State deposits, bequests and gifts enrich the museum throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with furniture, paintings, art objects from various periods, increasing collections with Rembrandt, Champaigne, Corneille, Coypel, Lagrenée, Nattier, Perronneau.
• Throughout the 20th century, important legacies and donations completed the collection of the Museum of Tours, its strong identity. In 1963 the museum received the legacy of the painter and collector Octave Linet, thus constituting an exceptional collection of Italian Primitives after the Louvre Museum and the Museum of the Petit Palais in Avignon.

The nineteenth century is also well represented, from neoclassical school (Suvée, Taillasson), romanticism (Vinchon), orientalism (Belly, Chassériau, Delacroix), realism (Bastien-Lepage, Cazin, Gervex). Impressionism, post-impressionism and symbolism are present thanks to the works of Monet, Degas, Henri Martin, Le Sidaner.

• The collection of works from the 20th century includes Asse, Besse, Calder, Davidson, Debré, Denis, Vieira da Silva and Zao Wou-Ki.
• In 2003, the Musée des Beaux-Arts received the Musée de France label, awarded by the Ministry of Culture.
• With its historical, architectural and exceptional collection, the Museum of Fine Arts in Tours is one of the most important in France. Opened on a French garden and under the shade of a cedar classified "Remarkable Tree of France" the museum knows how to combine the charm of a palace and the beauty of a collection.

• Schedule:

• Discovery and dissemination of culture, the Museum of Fine Arts in Tours offers a wide choice of courses: permanent collections, temporary exhibitions, conferences, concerts, library, documentation and an educational service for schoolchildren.
• The Musée des Beaux-Arts offers guided tours of the permanent collections, Passport to art every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. As well as one Saturday per month of guided tours of a particular work An hour, a work.

• Library :

• With approximately 15,000 French and foreign volumes, it brings together catalogs of exhibitions, museums and sales, general works, academic works and a large collection of periodicals. This series of publications refer to the history of art, plastic arts, decorative arts, photographs, archeology and museology on the Touraine and covers a period from antiquity to the present.
• Consultation is possible on site and by appointment, by phone on +33 2 47 05 72 54.

• Useful information :

• Address: 18 place François Sicard - 37000 Tours.
• Tél. : +33 2 47 05 68 73 - Email: musee-beauxarts@ville-tours.fr
• The museum is open every day except Tuesdays from 9 am to 6 pm during the temporary exhibitions and from 9 am to 12.45 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm excluding exhibitions. It is closed on 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, 1 and 11 November and 25 December.
• Full price 4 € - Reduced 2 €, group of more than 10 people, students, people over 65 years. Free: job seekers, Art History and Fine Arts students, children under 13 years old.