page_title: Amiens
section_title: Museums
hierarchical_section_title: Amiens / Culture, tourism and heritage / Cultural heritage / Museums
caption_attribution_description: English: Musée de Picardie Amiens
context_page_description: Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, 120 km north of Paris and 100 km south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France. The city had a population of 136,105 according to the 2006 census, and has one of the biggest university hospitals in France with a capacity of 1,200 beds. Amiens Cathedral is the tallest of the large, classic, Gothic churches of the 13th century and the largest in France of its kind. It is also a World Heritage Site. The author Jules Verne lived in Amiens from 1871 until his death in 1905, and served on the city council for 15 years.
  The town was fought over during both World Wars, suffering significant damage, and was repeatedly occupied by both sides. The 1918 Battle of Amiens was the opening phase of the Hundred Days Offensive which directly led to the Armistice with Germany. The Royal Air Force heavily bombed the town during the Second World War, in the aftermath the city was rebuilt according to Pierre Dufau's plans with wider streets to ease traffic congestion. These newer structures were primarily built of brick, concrete and white stone with slate roofs.
context_section_description: The Musée de Picardie is a key site in the history of the National Museum since it is the first building to have been built in France to serve as a museum as such. Built under the Second Empire on the model of the new Louvre of Napoleon III, it opened its doors to the public in 1867 after the visit of the emperor. Considered the French model of a 19th-century museum, it was nicknamed the "Little Louvre of the Province". It hosted very early rich collections which are now divided into four departments: Archaeology in the basement, the Medieval art on the ground floor, fine arts on the ground floor and the first floor, and modern and contemporary art on the first floor. Rooms are also devoted to temporary exhibitions. The department of fine arts brings together paintings by Van Dyck, Jordaens, Ruysdael, El Greco, Ribera, Tiepolo, Guardi, Fragonard, Chardin, Boucher, Quentin de La Tour, Vouet, Corot and Courbet. The modern and contemporary collection is represented by Picasso, Picabia, Balthus, Dubuffet, Hélion, Bacon, Miró and Manessier. Access to the picture galleries of the first floor is by a mounumental staircase in a setting dedicated to the famous wall compositions of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.
  The Hotel de Berny Museum is a regional museum of local art and history. This building, typical of the Louis XIII architecture, was built in 1634 as a mansion of the treasurers of France. Property of Gérard de Berny, Senator of the Somme, in the first half of the 20th century, the latter restored the façades and settled its collections. Located a few metres from the Cathedral, this Museum of France retains an exceptional collection of woodwork, furniture and objets d'art (tapestries, ceramics, ironworks) and memories (objects and arrays) of Amiens personalities: Jules Verne, Choderlos de Laclos, Édouard Branly, Jean-Baptiste Gresset, Vincent Voiture, Joseph Pinchon, Maréchal Leclerc. The museum is currently undergoing a complete renovation of its buildings and an overhaul of the installation of its museum collections.
  The House of Jules Verne, labeled Maisons des Illustres, is the home of the most translated writer in the world after Agatha Christie: Jules Verne. He lived here from 1882 to 1900 with his wife Honorine, and wrote part of his work in this mansion of the 19th century. Its visit proposes to enter into the intimate and creative universe of the author. The building largely retains its original decor and opens almost all of its rooms, from the ground floor to the attic. The permanent collections are presented on two floors, in the attic, the tower and the belvedere of the house: Approximately 700 collected objects evoke the personality, sources of inspiration and memories of Jules Verne. Costumed tours, performances, parties and literary encounters of thematic conferences are also regularly organised.
  Gallery of stained glass is located in the workshop of master glassmaker Claude Barre, in a house of the 16th century near to the cathedral. It presents a large collection to the public of religious stained-glass windows and interior from the 11th to the 19th century. The gallery also offers demonstrations on the techniques of stained glass.
  The House of culture of Amiens (also known by the acronym MCA or MACU) was inaugurated on 19 March 1966 by André Malraux. Major cultural institution in the region, it has two exhibition halls for contemporary art, the Matisse Hall and the Giacometti Room, which regularly host exhibitions of sculptures, photographs and plastic arts.
  The Fonds régional d'art contemporain of Picardie (FRAC Picardie), created in 1983, aims the promotion of contemporary art in partiular through dissemination actions. As early as 1985, FRAC Picardie had specialised its action in the field of the design and its contemporary dimensions. It is also interested in the media, on and off paper, since artists are now working through the video medium. This allowed it to acquire a good reputation in France and abroad. In 30 years, the FRAC has brought together a unique collection of a thousand drawings which include
caption: Musée de Picardie
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