Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille
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Place de la République 59000 Lille
tél. 03 20 06 78 00 fax 03 20 06 78 15
site : www.pba-lille.fr
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Open every day except Tuesdays, Mondays 14 -18, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10 -18,Friday 10 -18
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The Museum

The Palais des Beaux-Arts at Lille houses one of the most important museum collections in France. It was built in 1889-1892 by the Parisian architects Bérard et Delmas. This superb late 19th century building is home to prestigious collections of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and a fine cabinet of drawings, including 40 by Raphaël.

The Collections

In 1991 a renovation campaign was undertaken to prepare for the arrival in the museum of relief plans showing the region's towns, added to the fact that parts of the museum were in disrepair and that innovations needed to be made to its displays. Two architects, Jean-Marc Ibos et Myrto Vitart were given the task of rethinking the museum. There brief was straightforward : open the museum up to its visitors and the town, make it more welcoming and better adapted to what people expect from today's museums while promoting the rich and unique works on display. The Middle Ages, Renaissance and ceramics departments have been restructured. The paintings sections has been rehung and has benefited from the addition of around a hundred pictures restored and brought out of storage .

As part of the renovation project a temporary exhibitions section, taking up 700 m 2 in the basement has been created. There are two completely new departments, the 20th century sculpture department and the relief plans department. An atrium with free public access is an important new feature, flanked by a museum shop, a boutique devoted to reproductions of works in national collections and a café. The Palais des Beaux-Arts is now truly one of the great European museums and on every art lover's map, be they French or from abroad.