Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle, Art museum in La Rochelle, France.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts occupies a neoclassical palace from the early 1600s called the Hôtel de Crussol d'Uzès. Inside are European paintings and drawings spanning five centuries, from the Renaissance through the modern era.
The palace was built in the early 1600s and once hosted King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria before converting to a seminary in 1673. This shift from royal residence to religious school marked a major change in its role and purpose.
The building once served as a bishop's residence and later a seminary, reflecting the city's spiritual importance over centuries. Today visitors walk through rooms that still carry this sense of authority and learning from the past.
The museum is currently closed for major renovation and will reopen in 2027 with a refreshed approach to displaying art and history. Check ahead before planning a visit since the reopening details and access arrangements are still being finalized.
The museum holds rare Chinese export paintings made in Canton before 1844 by the artist Youqua, a lesser-known piece of the collection that few visitors expect to find. These works reveal how trade routes between Asia and Europe shaped what ended up in French coastal cities.
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