Appreciating Art in the right surrounding: Le Musee Calvet
June 18th 2006 23:00
Bonjour tout le monde!
“Another museum? She’s got museums on the brain,” you might be thinking as you read the title of today’s post and continue reading down until now. Well, I have the right to defend myself and I will. Avignon is a fantastic place: somewhere you may never want to leave. And as I’ve said before, it’s full of history and has some unbelievable artefacts in its museums. Italian art in the Musée du Petit Palais, papal artefacts in the Palais des Papes and a bridge with so much history and folklore? There is so much in Avignon to occupy every interest and even park a few you never thought you had!!
Today, I’m looking over le Musée Calvet. Basically: it’s an art museum housed in a small, but luxurious 18th century mansion. It contains a wide variety of different pieces with local prehistoric works, archaeological finds, classical and modern art, sculpture from Greece and porcelain and china from the Far East. According to an official Avignon site, there are more than 28 000 pieces in the Musée, and if you ask me, that’s a HUGE amount of art. The Musée’s importance has been recognised many times, leading to its inclusion on a list, citing France’s top 32 museums.
The building itself has a rich history. The building originally belonged to Joseph-Ignace de Villeneuve-Martignan and was his family residence. He was elected the Avignon City Council in 1735 and began to renovate the home. In 1738, he became head of the council and decided to turn the building into a luxurious hotel. In 1754, he was declared bankrupt and forced to stop work on the project, renting the ground floor. It was owned by many different people before being transformed into the Municipal Museum by the city of Avignon: the new owners.
The buildings were renovated in 2003 and still maintain the splendour of their former lives as a mansion and luxury hotel. Make sure you take the time to peruse (don’t you just love that word?) through the artworks and the themed rooms and exhibitions. Don’t forget to check out the statues and structures in the garden. You won’t be able to miss the garden: all the windows in the museum provide an excellent view of its arrangements.
The Musée is open all year round from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm daily (except for Thursdays when it’s closed). It’s also closed on News Years Day, May 1 and Christmas Day each year. It costs 6 euros to get into the Musée Calvet and the Beaux Arts (Fine Arts) section (discounted rate: 3 euros) and 2 euros (or 1 euro discounted) for the Musée Calvet and the archaeological exhibitions. If you want any more information check out the Museum’s official site was www.musee-calvet.org or the council’s website at http://www.mairie-avignon.fr/en/musees/calveten.php
That’s it for today. Will look at another attraction tomorrow.
À demain
Melinda
P.S Its address is 65 rue Joseph-Vernet, Avignon.
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