Vaucluse Museums

Amusements and things to do in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the South of France.

Avignon Museums - Vaucluse (84)

Angladon Museum

A rich art collection with some of the most prestigious signatures, in the private home of the art lovers who inherited them.

Location: 5 rue Laboureur; 1 block east, half north of Lapidaire Museum

Open: Wed-Sun, 13h-18h; Summer 13h-19h

Entry: 6 euros; 7-12: 1.5€; under 7 free

Tel: 0490 822 903; Fax: 0490 857 807

Web: www.angladon.com/

The 19th-century and 20th-century collections are on the ground floor. The older collections, displayed in the original family rooms on the upper floor. There's a large staircase and no elevator.

Calvet Museum - Musée Calvet

A small 18th-century mansion, with classical and modern art, Greek sculpture and a local prehistorical collection.

Location: 65 Rue Joseph Vernet; 3 blocks west, 3-4 south south of Place de l'Horloge

Open: 10h à 13h, 14h à 18h - Closed Tuesday

Entry: Free

Tel: 0490 863 384

Web: www.musee-calvet-avignon.com

Lambert Museum

In the 18th-century hotel particulier, Hotel de Caumont, with four floors of exhibition rooms (including a low attic room).

Location: 5 Rue Violette

Open: July-Aug, daily 11h-19h; Sept-June, Tue-Sun 11h-18h.

Closed: Sept-June closed Mon; also 1 May, 25 Dec, 1 Jan.

Entry: 8 euros (2019)

Tel: 0490 165 620

Lapidaire Museum - Musée Lapidaire

Located in the chapel of the 17th-century Jesuit College. Contains stone carvings and sculptures from the different civilizations, including a "bestiary", and extensive Roman artifacts.
Two ancient Provencal items we liked were: The Lion of Mornas, a monster animal crouched over a severed head, found in the village of Mornas; and the flesh-eating monster called the Tarasque de Noves, from the village of Noves (about 20 km northeast of Tarascon, known for its Tarasque monster.

Location: Chapelle des Jésuites, 27 Rue de la République; 2 blocks east, 1 south of the Calvet museum; 3-4 blocks south of Place de l'Horloge

Open: 10h à 13h et de 14h à 18h - Closed Monday

Entry: Free

Tel: 0490 847 538

Web: www.musee-calvet-avignon.com

Louis Vouland Museum - Musée

Decorative arts, especially for 18th-century French furnishings, porcelain and faience and tapestries.

Petit Palais Museum

This museum and art gallery is in the beautiful 14th-century "Small Palace", just north of (and named "petit" to distinguish it from) the the Pope's Palace. It has a great collection of Renaissance paintings, of the Avignon school and from Italy.

Location: Palais des archevêques, Place du Palais des Papes

Open: Daily, except Tuesday: 10h-13h, 14h-18h

Closed: 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec

Entry: Free

Tel: 0490 864 458

Web: www.petit-palais.org/

Requien Museum - Musée Requien

This is a small and very nicely presented Geological and Natural History museum, with many of the displays keyed to the natural and geological history of Provence.

Location: 67 Rue Joseph Vernet; Beside (south of) the Calvet Museum

Entry: Free

Tel: 0490 824 351

Web: www.museum-requien.org

Roure Palace Museum

A 15th-century hotel particulier on an enclosed cobblestone courtyard, with period furnished rooms and art museum. Frédéric Mistral was a frequent visitor.

Location: 3, Rue du Collège of the Roure — a small street by the southwest corner of the Place de l'Horloge.;

Open: All year, Tue-Sat; 10h-13h, 14h-18h.

Closed: Sun-Mon, holidays

Entry: Free

Tel: 0413 605 001

Théodore Aubanel Museum - Musée Théodore Aubanel

Le musée Aubanel de l'imprimerie, aujourd'hui fermé, se tenait dans l'ancien hôtel particulier de la famille de Théodore Aubanel, la Maison Aubanel, située dans une impasse de la place Saint-Pierre, à Avignon. Il fut créé en 1948 et fermé au début des années 2000. Printing implements and methods, and rare editions and documents about Avignon from the 13th to 20th centuries.

Cabrières-d'Avignon - Vaucluse (84220)

Lavender Museum

This fine musuem provides complete information about lavender, including its history, growth and the products made from it.
Machinery used in lavender distillation and production are described in English and French
The museum has a small cinema and shows a number of films about lavender. There's also, of course, a shop for purchasing lavender-based products.

Location: Rte de Gordes ; Cabrières d'Avignon ; 84220 Coustellet

Open: 7 days, including holidays:
Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, Dec: 9h-12h30, 14h-18h
Apr, May, Sept: 9h-13h, 14h-18h
June, July, Aug: 9h-19h

Closed: January; 25 December

Entry: 6 €; under 15 free (for 2008, 2009)

Tel: 0490 769 123

Web: www.museedelalavande.com/uk