Photo : Jan Drewes / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Musée des Beaux- Arts de Marseille
The Marseille Fine Arts Museum occupies the left wing of the Palais Longchamp, in the 4th arrondissement, a building designed by the architect Henry Espérandieu, whose monumental fountain celebrates the arrival of the Durance waters in Marseille.
Created in 1801 by the Consulate, it is among the first fifteen museums of France. Opened to the public in 1804 in the former Bernardine convent, it moved to the Palais Longchamp in 1869, under the Second Empire.
The collections present European paintings, sculptures and drawings from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century: Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch schools. Italian art, from the late Renaissance to the eighteenth century, is illustrated notably by Lavinia Fontana, Guercino, Lanfranco, Pannini and Tiepolo. The museum also keeps works that recall the artistic history of Provence.
The museum is wheelchair accessible and takes part each year in the European Heritage Days. It suits lovers of old painting as well as visitors who want to combine art and nineteenth-century architecture.
