In Amiens, the revival of the first modern museum

In 1867, this 6,000 m2 cube was the first building built in France to house a museum. Under construction since 2008, completely closed since July 2017, the Picardy Museum will reopen this Sunday March 1 after several delays and four million additional costs compared to the initial budget (€ 26 million, half funded by Amiens Métropole). About twenty trades were involved in this vast restoration, half restitution half modernization with extension. The business was particularly delicate. "The building classified as a Historic Monument in 2012 is the first object in our collection ," says Laure Dalon, director of the Museums of Amiens. It is a palace of the arts as the XIXth century liked to celebrate them, and even a prototype which inspired a lot ”(read below).

First surprise: you no longer enter the main courtyard to the east. This facade with its garden and its two basins decorated with griffins, now ripolines, has retained its majestic wrought iron grids.

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