Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology of Besançon

The Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon is the fine arts and archaeology museum of Besançon in eastern France, on Place de la Révolution inside the loop of the Doubs that holds the historic centre. It holds the oldest public collection in France, created in 1694, and suits art lovers, history fans and anyone visiting the UNESCO-listed citadel.

Opened to the public in 1694, before the Louvre

It began in 1694, when Abbé Jean-Baptiste Boisot left his collections to the Benedictines of Saint-Vincent on condition that they be open to the public twice a week, almost a century before the Louvre opened.

A grain hall with a concrete heart

The building began as a grain hall by the architect Pierre Marnotte, roofed in 1842. Between 1967 and 1970 Louis Miquel, a former pupil and collaborator of Le Corbusier, built a concrete structure of sloping ramps inside the courtyard, keeping the older shell around it. This interior received the Architecture contemporaine remarquable label in 2023. The museum closed on 13 April 2014 for a renovation led by Adelfo Scaranello and reopened on 16 November 2018.

Bronzino, Bellini and Cranach

The paintings range from Italian, Flemish and Northern masters of the late fifteenth century to the twentieth century. Highlights include Bronzino's large Lamentation over the Dead Christ, Giovanni Bellini's Drunkenness of Noah, two works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, among them a Lucretia, a Titian, and Courbet's huge Hallali du cerf of 1867. Bonnard represents the twentieth century.

6,000 drawings and Egyptian mummies

The graphic arts collection is one of the richest outside Paris, with more than 6,000 drawings shown in rotation; the bequest of Jean Gigoux alone brought more than 3,000. The archaeology galleries hold Egyptian antiquities, including the mummies of Séramon and Ânkhpakhéred, Gallo-Roman mosaics and finds from Franche-Comté. Sculpture, ceramics and goldsmiths' work complete the route.