Musée Bernard-d'Agesci

About the museum

The museum is housed in a building designed by the architect Georges Lasseron, first conceived as a girls’ secondary school. The school opened in 1897, was renamed the Lycée Jean Macé a year later, and served as a school until 1993. Its façade is decorated with faience and terracotta, which is rare for a public building.

In 1995 the town decided to bring together collections that had until then been kept in separate sites, notably those of the natural history museum and the fine arts museum. After more than ten years of planning, the museum opened in June 2006. It is named after Bernard d’Agesci (1756–1829), a painter, sculptor, architect and landscape designer born in Niort.

The route extends from the ground floor to the second floor. It includes paintings and sculptures, objects linked to teaching and science, natural history collections, as well as antique musical instruments and Parthenay faience.

Highlights

• Paintings from the 16th to the 18th centuries, including portraits by Nattier and Van Loo
• Room devoted to Bernard d’Agesci and his painting La Justice (1794)
• Auguste Tolbecque salon and luthiers’ instruments
• Parthenay faience from the late 19th century
• Natural history collections, from seabirds to fossils
• Garden with marble statues and a large hall with the Apollo Belvedere

Permanent exhibitions

• Beaux-arts – Gothic ivories, enamels, paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries, and a room devoted to Bernard d’Agesci on the first floor.
• Histoire naturelle – Seabirds, fossils from the region, animal skeletons and a diorama of local wildlife.
• Salon Tolbecque, faïence de Parthenay et peintres régionaux – On the second floor: a 19th-century music salon, luthiers’ instruments, Parthenay faience, silverware from the Deux-Sèvres and regional painters.

Founded

2006

Operated by

Niort Agglo (Musées de Niort Agglo)

Visitors per year

approx. 19,171

Admission & discounts

Free admission: First Sunday of every month

Free admission, on proof, also for members of the Amis des Musées de Niort, recipients of the RSA living in the agglomeration and certain professionals. Payment by cash, card, cheque or Chèques-Vacances.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

All areas are accessible to people with reduced mobility. A lift serves the first and second floors, and wheelchairs are available at reception.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Baby changing facilities
• Playground / play area
• Kids’ birthday parties

Activities during school holidays (2 hours with a visit, workshop and snack, 12 children maximum, by reservation) and birthday parties for ages 6 to 12. Children are given a mediation kit. The relaxation area has a play corner with coloured pencils, and a changing table is in the ground-floor toilets.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Coat check

Shop at reception with catalogues, postcards, jewellery reproductions, figurines and minerals. Free, supervised cloakroom. Relaxation area on the ground floor with hot and cold drink vending machines.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events

Up to 100 guests.

Auditorium with 96 seats, a relaxation area for 100 standing guests, a large hall and a courtyard. Available for hire by associations, companies, training organisations and private individuals.

Plan your visit