Musée d'Art sacré du Gard, Religious art museum in Pont-Saint-Esprit, France

The Musée d'Art sacré du Gard occupies the Maison des Chevaliers in Pont-Saint-Esprit, a medieval house built from the 12th century around a courtyard. Its light beige stone facade has three arched openings with wooden doors and a carved niche between the upper windows. Inside, exhibition rooms keep beamed ceilings, terracotta floors and walls of light and dark stone in a diamond pattern.

The house began in the mid-12th century as two small dwellings, one with a rectangular tower about fifteen metres high; around 1190-1200 they were joined into a single facade on the street. In 1340 the Piolenc family, Rhône valley merchants who owned it from the early 12th to the late 18th century, built the great hall used for Pont-Saint-Esprit's royal court of justice. Guillaume de Piolenc added the two ceremonial rooms with painted ceilings in 1450. The Gard department bought it in 1988, and the museum opened in July 1995.

The collection displays religious objects and artworks from multiple faith traditions, including Egyptian sarcophagi, ancient portraits, and sacred items side by side. This approach shows how different cultures represented the sacred through their own artistic expressions.

The museum is easily reached on foot from the old town and sits in a central location along Rue de la Poste. The rooms are connected by stairs, which may present challenges for visitors with mobility limitations.

The name Maison des Chevaliers comes from a mistaken belief that Knights Templar rested here returning from the Holy Land and painted their shields on the walls. No such shields exist; the name is the only trace of that legend. The building was long divided and altered in the 19th and 20th centuries before the Gard department bought it in 1988.