Our must-haves The Museum of Fine Arts and Lace

The Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle is a must-see in Alençon!
Since 1857, it has been housed in one of the buildings of the former Jesuit College, and contains some very fine works divided into three sections: Lace, Fine Arts and Cambodian Art.

And don’t miss the temporary exhibitions that the museum puts on throughout the year, which are always a great success.

See the museum website

Getting there

The lace section

At the heart of the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle d’Alençon, the section dedicated to lace is an invitation to discover a rare art form of unequalled finesse. A veritable treasure trove of local heritage, Alençon stitch lace – aUNESCO World Heritage Site – is revealed in all its complexity and beauty.

The museum tour reveals the secrets of this unique craft, which is entirely handmade and needlepoint, and which no machine can reproduce. It also reveals examples of sumptuous designs, immersing you in the meticulous world of the lacemakers.
A film also takes you through all the stages involved in making lace, and gives you invaluable first-hand accounts from those who work daily to pass on and preserve this exceptional art.

The richness of the collections highlights the stylistic evolution of lace, from the 17th century to the present day, while underlining its role in the history of fashion. There is even a showcase devoted to contemporary creations, proof that this ancestral skill continues to inspire today’s artists.

Exceptional A wedding veil from the 19th century

Don’t miss an exceptional and rare piece at the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle : a wedding veil from the 19th century. It measures 3.50 m long and 2 m wide, and was made entirely in Alençon stitch and needlework. It is estimated to have taken between 350,000 and 500,000 hours to create, representing a year’s work for around a hundred lace-makers.

The Fine Arts section

This part of the museum invites you to take a journey through the periods of the French, Italian and Nordicschools, from the 15th to the 20th century: you’ll see some very fine works by Giovanni Massone, Jean Restout, Philippe de Champaigne and Jusepe de Ribera, as well as others by Charles Landon, Henri Fantin-Latour, Gustave Courbet andEugène Boudin. Your visit will end with a showcase of artists from Orléans, both native and adopted, as well as painters from the Saint-Céneri school.
The graphic arts cabinet contains some remarkable, rare and precious items, covering periods from the 15th to the 20th century. It was largely built up thanks to the Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel, the museum’s first donor, and Horace His de La Salle.
The museum houses works by masters such as Watteau, Coypel, La Fosse and Verdier, as well as regional and Norman artists such as Léandre and Monanteuil. Sculpture came to the museum in 1873, with the donation of the studio collection of Victor Le Harivel-Durocher from Orne, including most of his original plaster casts.

Hall of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Alençon — ©Alençon Tourisme, Pascal Beltrami

The Cambodia section

Adhémard Leclère was born in Alençon in 1853. After working for several years in the press and publishing industry, he left for Indochina in 1886 to take up a post in the French administration.

Over a period of 25 years, he collected precious archaeological and ethnographic evidence, Buddhist and animist artefacts and more than 500 photographs. He never ceased to describe life in Indochina, and Cambodia in particular, during the colonial era.

On his return to Alençon in 1911, he decided to donate his extensive collection to the museum, which created a room entirely dedicated to Cambodian art.

This collection is now one of the leading collections for the study of Khmer culture.