Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours

Tours, France

The Musée des beaux-arts de Tours (Museum of Fine Arts of Tours) is located in the bishop's former palace, near the cathedral St. Gatien, where it has been since 1910. It displays rich and varied collections, including that of painting which is one of the first in France both in quality and the diversity of the works presented.

In the courtyard, there is a magnificent cedar of Lebanon and and a stuffed elephant in a building in front of the museum. This elephant was killed because of a bout of madness during a circus parade by the "Barnum & Bailey" circus in the streets of Tours on 10 June 1902.

The museum has over 12,000 works but only 1,000 are on show to the public. On the ground floor, the museum has a room especially dedicated to Tours art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The museum was classified as a monument historique on 27 June 1983.

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Address

Rue Lavoisier 53, Tours, France
See all sites in Tours

Details

Founded: 1910
Category: Museums in France

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Michael Nolan (16 months ago)
This is a beautiful building housing a varied and well put together exhibition. The gardens are pleasant to stroll in and there is a fine garden Café serving treats.
Emelli Kauana Rodrigues (17 months ago)
The best place for you to visit. It’s very interesting. It had three floors with art frames. There is a room dedicated to the history of Tours. You need pay 8 euros for visit the museum.
Alison Toia (17 months ago)
Great collection set out in a wonderful building. Allow an hour and half to view the collection and make sure you check out the garden
Raman Pfaff (18 months ago)
A nice small museum that took me about an hour to walk through. There is almost nothing written in English in the museum, so it's good to carry Google Translate with you (just one staff member seemed to know English). Lots of artwork from the 1800s from known artists, and also a few impressionist (and neo) works. Also a bit of modern work that was pretty nice. It's in a really old house that is interesting, and some sculptures and clocks on display. Easily worth the ticket price, and after several days in Paris museums this was relaxing since very few people inside. As I said, have translation app with you!
Paula R. C. (22 months ago)
Really beautifull. The expo was amazing, lot of things to see with a good explanation. The garden was enormoud and a good place for a walk.
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