Musée des Beaux-Arts

For our last weekend in Lyon, we decided it was high time we hit a few museums, seeing as we have been here three full weeks and have not gone to ANY museums here in town (gasp!). At the top of our list for a visit on Friday was the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The building itself is historically and aesthetically interesting; it was built in the 17th century as a Benedictine abbey. The collections reminded me of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts -- quite a mix of sculpture, painting, and anthropological artifacts from a range of time periods and geographic areas.

Hmmm, looks familiar....



Liberté again, this time with her close friend and confidante, Égalité



Map of western Europe under the Roman Empire



Le Tireur d'épines ("The thorn remover"). This was part of a three-part series, along with "Youthful maiden cleaning her fingernails" and "Elderly man removing ear wax." OK, maybe not....



The museum highlighted a number of artists who were born in Lyon and, in some cases, depicted local scenery, as in the painting below ("Entrance to the Guillotière Bridge at a Rainy Moment," 1879).



And finally, here's your French challenge of the day, if you're up for one :) . Read the sign below and figure out what you can and can't do inside the museum!