The Lyon Museum of Fine Arts is a municipal museum of fine arts in Lyon, France. It is housed in a former Benedictine convent from the 17th and 18th centuries near Place des Terreaux. It was repaired from 1988 to 1998, and despite these significant restoration efforts, it remained available to the public. Its collections vary from ancient Egypt artifacts to modern art, making it one of Europe's most important museums.
The paintings department contains European artworks from the 14th to the mid-20th centuries. In 35 rooms, they are organized chronologically and by prominent schools.
The ancient cloister of the abbey is now a municipal garden in the heart of the town, on the peninsula. It is embellished with various statues from the nineteenth century. The majority of the collection is separated into two sections: on the ground floor for Medieval and Renaissance sculptures, and in the rebuilt former baroque refectory for 19th and early 20th century sculptures.
Because of the animation by men like Victor Loret, and the historical importance of egyptology in Lyon, whose family donated over 1000 pieces to the museum in 1954, ancient Egypt is the principal topic of the museum's antiquities department.
The Louvre Museum provided nearly 400 objects, including funerary figurines, unguent vases, and other material from Antinopolis, to form the foundation of the department beginning in 1895; other objects, including jewelry, canopic vases, and material from Antinopolis, were later added to enhance this initial donation and were augmented in 1936 by artifacts from the artisans' village of Deir el-Medina.
The gates of Ptolemy III and Ptolemy IV and the display of sarcophaguses from the temple of Medamud excavated by Lyons archaeologist Alexandre Varille in 1939 are highlights of the collection. The remaining artifacts shed light on daily living in ancient Egypt. The collection has 600 works that are displayed in 9 rooms in a thematic and historical order.
Duration Required20 Place des Terreaux, 69001, Lyon, France
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