Musée d'art et d'archéologie de Laon, Art and archaeology museum in medieval Laon, France

The Musée d'art et d'archéologie de Laon occupies the former commandery of the Knights Templar at 32 rue Georges Ermant, near the cathedral. Its buildings stand around a paved courtyard: a pale stone chapel with a steep gable and pointed-arch openings, and a two-storey grey rendered house with a brown tiled roof and white-framed windows. The chapel in the garden dates from the 12th century.

The museum was created in 1861 and moved in 1891 into the former commandery of the Knights Templar, whose chapel dates from the 12th century. Its collections grew through regional and Mediterranean archaeology and a bequest that formed one of France's largest Greek collections after the Louvre's.

The collections here display works by regional artists and objects that reveal how people lived in and around Laon across different periods. These pieces show the daily lives and skills of the communities that shaped this area.

The building is easy to reach from the city center and the rooms are laid out clearly, making it simple to walk through the exhibition. It helps to allow enough time to look carefully at the different objects and their labels.

The museum's Greek collection of about 1,700 pieces is one of the largest in France after the Louvre's, built from the bequest of Paul Marguerite de La Charlonie. It spans the Bronze Age to the early centuries AD, with vases, terracotta figurines and marble sculptures.