Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres, France

The Fine Art Museum - Musée des Beaux-Arts, is situated just behind the Chartres Cathedral. It was formerly the ancient episcopal palace from the 12th century, where the bishops of Chartres lived.

Some religious sculptures and painting from European School, and other collections of ancient and modern arts are on all year exhibition in the museum.

References:

Discover Chartres

Museums in France

User Reviews

Fiona Charonnat (2 months ago)
Have been meaning to visit this lical museum with 20+ years and finally did it. It is a beautifully preserved building just beside the cathedrale with impressive entrance hall and stairs, reception room and chapel. The art exhibition is interesting to see if not spectacular. We passed a very pleasant hour discovering the museum. Entrance fee is very reasonable.

Dj Backtobasix (4 months ago)
Rodin exhibition: a bronze copy of "the cathedral", that's all. Only 3 ground floor rooms open. The rest of the building is not accessible to the public. Closing announced at 6 p.m., at 5:30 p.m., after 10min of visit (the tour is quickly done), we entered the painting room, the staff came to close the shutters and turn off the lights under our noses while we were contemplating a work . Obliged to finish the visit in the light of our telephones... Special. There are much better ways to spend $6.

Anaïs Bortolussi (6 months ago)
I did not particularly appreciate the permanent collection. On the other hand, the temporary exhibition on mammoths was very instructive, impressive and with an effective scenography. An exhibition related to Rodin is planned from July 2!

Julia Emahiser (6 months ago)
Not a big selection and very old fashioned but free….with creaky floors and everything!

Mari Makodzeba (8 months ago)
Good museum. But Needs Repair. Interesting exposition with a mammoth. Entrance ticket 6 euros. Beautiful and flowering facade. If you have time, you can visit.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

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Historic Site of the week

Saint-Eustache

The Church of St Eustace was built between 1532-1632. St Eustace"s is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The church’s reputation was strong enough of the time for it to be chosen as the location for a young Louis XIV to receive communion. Mozart also chose the sanctuary as the location for his mother’s funeral. Among those baptised here as children were Richelieu, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future Madame de Pompadour and Molière, who was also married here in the 17th century. The last rites for Anne of Austria, Turenne and Mirabeau were pronounced within its walls. Marie de Gournay is buried there.

The origins of Saint Eustache date back to 13th century. The church became a parish church in 1223, thanks to a man named Jean Alais who achieved this by taxing the baskets of fish sold nearby, as granted by King Philip Augustus. To thank such divine generosity, Alais constructed a chapel dedicated to Sainte-Agnès, a Roman martyr. The construction of the current church began in 1532, the work not being finally completed until 1637. The name of the church refers to Saint Eustace, a Roman general of the second century AD who was burned, along with his family, for converting to Christianity, and it is believed that it was the transfer of a relic of Saint Eustache from the Abbey to Saint-Denis to the Church of Saint Eustache which resulted in its naming. Jeanne Baptiste d"Albert de Luynes was baptised here.

According to tourist literature on-site, during the French Revolution the church, like most churches in Paris, was desecrated, looted, and used for a time as a barn. The church was restored after the Revolution had run its course and remains in use today. Several impressive paintings by Rubens remain in the church today. Each summer, organ concerts commemorate the premieres of Berlioz’s Te Deum and Liszt’s Christus here in 1886.

The church is an example of a Gothic structure clothed in Renaissance detail. The church is relatively short in length at 105m, but its interior is 33.45m high to the vaulting. At the main façade, the left tower has been completed in Renaissance style, while the right tower remains a stump. The front and rear aspects provide a remarkable contrast between the comparatively sober classical front and the exuberant rear, which integrates Gothic forms and organization with Classical details. The L"écoute sculpture by Henri de Miller appears outside the church, to the south. A Keith Haring sculpture stands in a chapel of the church.

The Chapel of the Virgin was built in 1640 and restored from 1801 to 1804. It was inaugurated by Pius VII on the 22nd of December, 1804 when he came to Paris for the coronation of Napoleon. The apse chapel, with a ribbed cul-de-four vault, has at its centre a sculpture of the Virgin and Child of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle that the painter Thomas Couture highlighted by three large paintings.

With 8,000 pipes, the organ is reputed to be the largest pipe organ in France, surpassing the organs of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame de Paris. The organ originally constructed by P.-A. Ducroquet was powerful enough for the premiere of Hector Berlioz" titanic Te Deum to be performed at St-Eustache in 1855.

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