Musée Bossuet

Musée Bossuet
View of the museum from the garden
Location within France
Established	1927
Location	Meaux, Ile-de-France, France
Coordinates	48°57′39″N 2°52′42″E / 48.960698°N 2.878316°E / 48.960698; 2.878316
Collection size	Paintings, sculpture and decorative arts
Website	www.musee-bossuet.fr

The Musée Bossuet is the art and history museum of the town of Meaux, France. Situated in the old episcopal palace, it takes its name from the famous orator and theologian, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux from 1681 to 1704.

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Buildings

The episcopal palace

Built in the twelfth century around 1160, then rebuilt in the seventeenth century, the episcopal palace architecturally is a mix of medieval and Renaissance styles. The most interesting example of eighteenth century work is the south facade of the palace, built of brick and stone, with large cross windows. The north facade is also representative of the Grand Siècle style. The lower rooms of the palace are the oldest, dating from the second half of the twelfth century. The low and high chapels also date from this time, but were expanded and redesigned in the fifteenth century.

Garden

The Bossuet garden is beside the episcopal palace. It is a formal garden in the French style with the shape of a miter. The garden was created in the seventeenth century during the episcopate of Dominique Séguier. It took the name of the great prelate in 1911, when it was opened to the public as a city park. On crossing it one reaches the study of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.

Collections

The episcopal palace houses collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as items of local history. The collections have expanded thanks to the legacy of the chemist and collector Henri Moissan in 1914 and, more recently, thanks to the donation of the neuro-biologist Jean-Pierre Changeux. He enriched the museum with forty works, the last of which entered the collection in 2006. Different schools of painting are shown from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.