Make the most of your stay at the Hôtel Foch to visit Besançon's Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology.
After being closed for four years for renovation work, Besançon's Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology has reopened its doors in the heart of the city.
The extension of the spaces, the enhancement of the two existing architectural styles (Pierre Marnotte, 1842 and Louis Miquel, 1970) and the importance given to sources of daylight, by the architectural firm A. Scaranello, provide an opportunity to truly rediscover the museum and its collections.
What strikes you most on entering the museum is its unique architecture, an amalgam of a nineteenth-century granary and a raw concrete structure in the style of a "museum of unlimited growth", a concept invented by Le Corbusier. The two architectural styles interact, as do the archaeology and fine arts collections.
As part of the French and international cultural landscape, France's oldest public collection, founded in 1694, can be proud of the wealth of its collections. In addition to the international renown conferred by its collection of European graphic works (more than 6,000 drawings), it also boasts an important archaeological heritage (Egyptian and Mediterranean collections, regional holdings), numerous sculptures, ceramics, pieces of gold and silverware, and an exceptional collection of paintings representing the main currents in the history of Western art from the end of the 15th to the 20th century.
At the same time, an exhibition of contemporary art, rarely seen in the museum's collections, provides food for thought about the fine arts and archaeology.
Let yourself be surprised by the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon, one of the most unusual museums in France.
For more information, visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon website.
