Located within the walls of William's castle, in a contemporary building, the Museum of Fine Arts offers a rich collection of 16th and 17th century European painting—Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch. A sculpture park was added in 2007.
The history of the museum goes back to 1801, when the French Minister of Interior of the time selected Caen as one of 15 cities in France to serve as depots to display the large number of paintings that had been confiscated during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
The collections housed in Caen went largely unharmed throughout Nazi occupation. But the Allied bombings of 1944 destroyed much of the artwork, a total of 540 paintings and 400 drawings. After the final Allied air raid on July 7, most of the museum had been flattened. The surviving artwork—567 paintings and miniatures, ceramics and porcelains—was hastily stored in the unsound ruins of the Hotêl Escoville and the Langlois Museum.
In 1963, almost 20 years later, it became possible to rebuild the art museum. The stored collections were inventoried, in addition to what remained of a considerable collection donated in 1872 by Caen bookseller, Bernard Mancel. Mancel had purchased many of his holdings from the collections that had belonged to Napoleon I’s uncle, Cardinal Fesch.
Through intense effort, this historic art museum was reestablished as a major museum, and promoted to the rank of "musée classé," in recognition of the importance of its collections.
Take Tram Line A or Line B back to the Train Station
When you are ready to return to the train station, walk to the St. Pierre or the Quatrans tram stop and board the tram using:
Line A “Direction Jean Vilar” or
Line B “Direction Grace de Dieu.”
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