Museum of Fine Arts

You’re now approaching one of the must-sees in Aquitaine and a key cultural landmark in Southwest France. The Agen Museum of Fine Arts is an unmissable part of Agen, full of beautiful works waiting to be admired. It was created by the Academic Society of Agen in 1836, and it’s been housed in the heart of the historic center since 1876. The city clearly went all out when choosing the building. Its eclectic appearance is no surprise, the museum stretches across four former private mansions, giving it a distinctive, multi-layered character. You’ll enter through part of the old main wing of the Hôtel d’Estrades, a 17th-century residence that once belonged to François d’Estrades, governor to the children of King Henry IV and later master of the household for King Louis XIII. It even hosted the king in 1658, and later housed royal officers and the governor of Guyenne. Behind you, on Rue des Juifs, stands the rounded entrance to the former Hôtel de Vaurs, a medieval house later modernised and turned into a prison by the city around 1765. The red section in front of you with its crenellated tower was once the Hôtel de Vergès. It was built in the 16th century and named after its first resident, Jehan de Vergès, a doctor from Agen who left it to his son-in-law, the king’s prosecutor. Its most striking surviving feature is the courtyard, with mullioned windows and an arched porch you can admire from inside the museum. At the back, you’ll find the Hôtel Monluc, also dating from the 16th century. King Henry II gifted it to his favourite, Diane de Poitiers, who later passed it on to Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scotland and wife of Francis II of France. It was later owned by Marshal Blaise Monluc, who gave it his name in 1563. With such an unusual architectural mix, the museum now spreads its collection across five floors, taking you on a journey through thousands of years of art history. Among the 3,000 pieces on display, you’ll find Oriental antiquities, prehistoric and Celtic artifacts, medieval treasures, European ceramics, and above all, remarkable paintings by Goya, Courbet, Boudin, Sisley, and others. Visiting the Agen Museum of Fine Arts is like stepping into a real-life cabinet of curiosities where every corner tells a story.