Musée des Beaux-Arts

Reims

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Lodged in an 18th-century abbey, this museum's rich collection stars one of four versions of Jacques-Louis David’s world-famous The Death of Marat (yes, the bloody corpse in the bath-tub), 27 works by Camille Corot (only the Louvre has more), 13 portraits by German Renaissance painters Cranach the Elder and the Younger, lots of Barbizon School landscapes, some art-nouveau creations by Émile Gallé, and two works each by Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro.

The museum closed in 2019 for renovations and is expected to reopen in 2025.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims, France

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    0.15 MILES

    Imagine the extravagance of a French royal coronation. The focal point of such pomposity was Reims’ resplendent Gothic cathedral, begun in 1211 on a site…

  • The Palais du Tau in Reims.

    Palais du Tau

    0.16 MILES

    A Unesco World Heritage Site, this lavish former archbishop’s residence, redesigned in neoclassical style between 1671 and 1710, was where French princes…

  • Avenue de Champagne

    Avenue de Champagne

    14.86 MILES

    Épernay’s handsome av de Champagne fizzes with maisons de champagne (Champagne houses). The boulevard is lined with mansions and neoclassical villas,…

  • Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    28.27 MILES

    A model for several of its more famous Gothic sisters – Chartres, Reims, Dijon and Paris' Notre-Dame among them – this medieval jewel was built between…

  • Musée de la Vigne et du Vin

    Musée de la Vigne et du Vin

    21.05 MILES

    This museum is so outstanding that it’s worth planning your day around a two-hour tour. Assembled by a family that has been making Champagne since 1872,…

  • Lighthouse of Verzenay

    Phare & Musée de Verzenay

    8.54 MILES

    For the region’s best introduction to the art of growing grapes and the cycles of the seasons, head to the Phare de Verzenay, on a hilltop at the eastern…

  • Interior of Saint-Remi Basilica in Reims, Champagne, France.

    Basilique St-Rémi

    0.82 MILES

    This 121m-long former Benedictine abbey church, a Unesco World Heritage Site, mixes Romanesque elements from the mid-11th century (the worn but stunning…

  • Statue of Dom Perignon at Champagne house Moët & Chandon in Epernay, France.

    Dom Pérignon

    14.86 MILES

    Everyone who visits Moët & Chandon invariably stops to strike a pose next to the statue of Dom Pérignon (c 1638–1715), after whom the prestige cuvée is…

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Nearby Reims attractions

1. Joan of Arc Statue

0.08 MILES

A strangely expressionless statue of Joan of Arc, raised high on a rearing horse and bearing a sword, graces this square facing the cathedral. The so…

2. Église St-Jacques

0.13 MILES

The 12th- to 14th-century Église St-Jacques, the city’s only remaining medieval parish church, has some 1960s stained glass that’s so awful it has to be…

3. Cathédrale Notre Dame

0.15 MILES

Imagine the extravagance of a French royal coronation. The focal point of such pomposity was Reims’ resplendent Gothic cathedral, begun in 1211 on a site…

4. Palais du Tau

0.16 MILES

A Unesco World Heritage Site, this lavish former archbishop’s residence, redesigned in neoclassical style between 1671 and 1710, was where French princes…

5. Bibliothèque

0.21 MILES

Thanks to a donation from the US-based Carnegie Foundation, the lobby of the Bibliothèque boasts gorgeous 1920s mosaics, stained glass, frescos and an…

6. Subé Fountain

0.22 MILES

The centrepiece of Place Drouet d'Erlon is the Subé Fountain, built in 1907 and crowned by a gleaming gold statue of Winged Victory.

7. Place Drouet d’Erlon

0.29 MILES

Reims’ pedestrianised main square draws locals in the mood for a bite, a beer or a bit of shopping.

8. Cryptoportique

0.3 MILES

One of Reims' Roman standouts, the below-street-level Cryptoportique is thought to have been used for grain storage in the 3rd century AD.