Musée des Beaux-Arts

Chartres


Chartres’ fine-arts museum, accessed via the gate next to Cathédrale Notre Dame’s north portal, is in the former Palais Épiscopal (Bishop’s Palace), built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its collections include 16th-century enamels of the Apostles made for François I, a collection of paintings by Chaïm Soutine and polychromatic wooden sculptures from the Middle Ages.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Chartres attractions

1. Centre International du Vitrail

0.04 MILES

After viewing the stained glass in Chartres’ cathedral, nip into the town’s International Stained-Glass Centre, in a half-timbered former granary, to see…

2. Tour Nord

0.05 MILES

Climbing 350 steps up to the 112m-high Tour Nord (aka Clocher Neuf; New Bell Tower) of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is well worth it. A 70m-high platform on…

3. Cathédrale Notre Dame Crypt

0.05 MILES

The 100m crypt of Cathédrale Notre Dame, a tombless Romanesque structure built in 1024 around a 9th-century predecessor, is the largest in France. Tours…

4. Cathédrale Notre Dame

0.06 MILES

One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…

5. Portail Royal

0.07 MILES

The west, north and south entrances of the Cathédrale Notre Dame have superbly ornamented triple portals, but the west entrance, known as the Portail…

6. Clocher Vieux

0.07 MILES

Along with the the Portail Royal, the main Romanesque feature of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is the 105m-high Clocher Vieux (also called the Tour Sud or…

7. Collégiale St-André

0.17 MILES

From rue Cardinal Pie, the stairways Tertre St-Nicolas and rue Chantault – the latter lined with medieval houses (number 29 is the oldest house in…

8. Église St-Aignan

0.28 MILES

Église St-Aignan is interesting for its wooden barrel-vault roof (1625), arcaded nave and painted interior of faded blue and gold floral motifs (c 1870)…