Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is the fine arts museum of Lille, one of the largest in France, facing the prefecture on Place de la République in the city centre. It covers European art from antiquity to the early twentieth century and suits art lovers, day-trippers arriving by high-speed train, and anyone interested in military history through its relief models.

Revolutionary seizures and the 1801 Chaptal decree

Its origins lie in the Revolution, when works seized from churches and nobles were inventoried in the city. A decree of 1801 by the minister Chaptal gave collections to fifteen French cities, including Lille, and the museum opened in 1809, first in a former church and then in the town hall. The present palace was built between 1885 and 1892 to designs by Édouard Bérard and Fernand Delmas. A renovation by Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart was completed in 1997, and the building now covers about 22,000 square metres, including a 700 square metre underground room for temporary exhibitions.

Raphael to Van Gogh in the painting galleries

The painting galleries span Raphael, Rubens altarpieces, Van Dyck, Jordaens, El Greco, Chardin, David, Delacroix, Corot and Courbet's After Dinner at Ornans, with later rooms showing Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat and Van Gogh. The museum picks out four key works for first-time visitors: an ancient Greek vase from around 575 to 555 BC, a relief by Donatello, Goya's Les Vieilles (the old women, sometimes called "Time"), and Claude Monet's view of the Houses of Parliament in London.

Sculpture includes Donatello, Rodin and Camille Claudel. There are also medieval and Renaissance rooms and collections of ceramics and decorative arts.

Vauban-era relief maps of border towns

The museum keeps relief maps of fortified towns made for the French crown in the age of the military engineer Vauban, eighteenth-century scale models of towns on the northern border. Their arrival in Lille helped trigger the 1997 renovation, and they are shown in a darkened gallery on the lower level.