Musée des Beaux-Arts

The fine arts museum of Béziers is known as the Musée Fayet, after the Hôtel Fayet, the town house on the Rue du Capus in which it is housed. The museum was founded in 1859 by the local archaeological society, and it has grown over the years into a collection that covers sculpture, painting, drawing and local archaeology. The house, a handsome building of the nineteenth century, was awarded the label Maison des Illustres in 2019, a national recognition for houses linked to important figures, and the name Fayet recalls Gustave Fayet, one of the most remarkable collectors of his time.

Gustave Fayet, born in Béziers in 1865, was a painter, an art collector and a wine-grower. He was a friend of Odilon Redon, whom he commissioned to paint a famous series of decorations at his château of Domecy in Burgundy, and he was one of the earliest collectors of the work of Paul Gauguin, whom he supported. His collection and his connection with the artists of the end of the nineteenth century gave the town an important place in the story of Symbolism and early modern art, and the family house is a reminder of that.

The museum is organised on two floors. The first floor is dedicated to the work of Jean-Antoine Injalbert, a sculptor born in Béziers in 1845, who became one of the best-known French sculptors of his age and whose works adorn public places in many French towns. The display includes plaster models, terracotta studies, and works in marble and bronze, and it shows how a sculpture develops from the first sketch to the finished piece. Many of his works have an elegant, academic style, with figures of nymphs, allegories and portrait busts. The second floor shows a mix of objects. It contains antiquities found in Béziers, the Roman Baeterrae, as well as unpublished drawings by Hippolyte Boussac, an Egyptologist from the town, and a collection of European paintings from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, which includes works by Flemish, Italian and French artists.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, usually from late morning until the evening, and the admission fee is modest, with reductions and free entry for certain groups, so check the details at the entrance. Workshops and educational programmes are organised for children and adults. A visit takes about an hour.

The museum lies in the old town of Béziers, a short walk from the Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, with its terrace over the river Orb, and the Place de la République. The Église Saint-Pierre, the Porte Narbonnaise, the Quartier des Arènes and the covered market are also in the town. The Canal du Midi and the Fonseranes locks are a short drive away. The museum suits art lovers and those who want a quiet visit.