Musée de l'hôtel Sandelin, Fine arts museum in Saint-Omer, France.
The Musée de l'hôtel Sandelin occupies a stone Louis XV mansion completed in 1776-1777 for Marie-Josèphe Sandelin, built around a paved courtyard. Its symmetrical centre has a triangular pediment carved with a crest above a wrought-iron balcony; curved wings extend to each side. Since 1904 it has housed the city's art and history collections, with period rooms and 4,000 ceramics shown in rotation.
Marie-Josèphe Sandelin, viscountess of Fruges, bought the governor's mansion of Saint-Omer in 1766 and had it rebuilt entirely in stone in the Louis XV style, finished in 1776-1777; the architect is unknown. Requisitioned during the Revolution, it returned to her in 1800, passed to her brother Joseph-Joachim then his son Pierre, and the city bought it in 1899 to house a museum, open since 1904. Part was listed as a monument historique in 1955, another inscribed in 1957.
The museum keeps the name of Marie-Josèphe Sandelin, viscountess of Fruges, who bought the governor's mansion in 1766 and had it rebuilt in stone. Its 4,000 pieces of Saint-Omer, Lunéville, Rouen and Delft faience and porcelain are shown in rotation, alongside a coin collection of more than 16,000 pieces.
The museum occupies the mansion's ground floor, first floor and basement, so the visit runs from the city-history models in the basement up through the period rooms to the ceramics on the first floor. The 4,000 pieces of faience and porcelain are shown in rotation, so part of the collection changes between visits. The building stands in the centre of Saint-Omer, within walking distance of the town's main streets.
The first floor holds 4,000 pieces of faience, porcelain and ceramic from Saint-Omer, Lunéville, Rouen and Delft, shown in rotation. The coin collection numbers over 16,000 pieces. In the staircase hang a painting by François Chifflart and a version of Prud'hon's La Justice et la Vengeance divine poursuivant le Crime, the Louvre holding the other.
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