Musée Ingres Bourdelle, Art museum in Montauban, France.
The Musée Ingres Bourdelle is an art museum housed in a former bishop's palace, displaying paintings, drawings, and sculptures across multiple galleries. The building contains works from Italian masters and French artists, while the lower levels preserve ancient artifacts and remains from the region's early history.
The building was commissioned by bishop Pierre de Bertier in 1664 on the ruins of a castle built by Edward the Black Prince during the Hundred Years' War; its lower hall still bears that name. After the Revolution it became the town hall, where Franz Liszt played a recital on 2 September 1844. Ingres gave part of his collection to the city in 1851, and after his death in 1867 thousands of drawings enriched the museum, which took its current name after a 2019 renovation.
The museum bears the names of two artists born in Montauban: Ingres, who gave the city part of his collection in 1851, and Bourdelle, honoured with an entire floor. The lower level holds the largest public collection of Bourdelle's work in the region, with 70 sculptures and about a hundred graphic pieces. The Salle du Prince Noir recalls the Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock, who built a castle on this site during the Hundred Years' War.
The museum reopened on 13 December 2019 after 36 months of work and now covers 2,700 m², with two lifts serving all levels and a group reception area. A graphic arts cabinet holds the drawings, and there is a conference-auditorium, a tea room and a bookshop. The Salle du Prince Noir occupies the lower level.
The lowest level preserves the Salle du Prince Noir, a medieval hall named after Edward Plantagenet, the Black Prince, who had a castle built on this site during the Hundred Years' War. The castle was later destroyed after Richelieu retook Montauban, and Bishop Pierre de Bertier built his classical palace on the ruins from 1664, keeping the old hall beneath it.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,135 contributors worldwide.
