Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Discover 5,000 years of art history at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, from ancient Egypt to modern art by Matisse and Picasso, housed in a 17th-century palace with a peaceful sculpture garden.

Planning your visit

Lyon's fine arts museum occupies a seventeenth-century Benedictine abbey on Place des Terreaux, arranged around a cloister garden planted with sculpture — one of the more agreeable places to pause in central Lyon, and free to enter.

The collection is among the largest in France after the Louvre, covering 5,000 years: an Egyptian department with substantial holdings, Greek and Roman antiquities, medieval and Renaissance painting, a strong Dutch and Flemish section, and French painting through to Impressionism and beyond, with Matisse, Picasso, Braque and Bacon in the modern rooms.

The Lyonnais school is worth attention — the city's silk industry supported a distinctive tradition of flower painting, since designers needed botanical accuracy for textile patterns.

Lyon itself is a UNESCO city, and the museum sits between the two rivers in the Presqu'île. Allow two to three hours. Bookable options include tickets with city audio guides. Current availability is shown below.