Musée des Beaux-Arts

Lonely Planet review

Housed in the eastern wing of the Palais des Ducs, the Musée des Beaux-Arts is one of the most outstanding museums in France. The wood-panelled Salle des Gardes (Guards' Room), once warmed by a gargantuan fireplace that's as Gothic as Gothic can be, houses three impossibly intricate gilded Gothic retables from the 1300s and the late-medieval sepulchres of two Valois dukes.

Restored in 2005, the tombs are topped by life-size recumbent figures attended by angelic guardians; processions of delicately carved mourners adorn the sides.

Other highlights include: a fine collection of primitives that give you a good sense of how artistic and aesthetic sensibilities varied between Italy, Switzerland and the Rhineland in the 13th and 14th centuries; the painting Galerie d'Objets d'Art (mid-17th century) by Cornelis de Baellieur, which shows a room rendered with such precision that you can actually enjoy the miniscule artwork hanging on its walls (photography made this sort of painterly tour de force obsolete; hung at eye level in room 119); and quite a few nude (though never lewd) Rude sculptures - they're by the Dijon-born artist François Rude (1784-1855) so don't be a prude or become unglued, Dude!

The modern and contemporary art section, which has one work each by Manet and Monet, is closed 11:30 to 13:45 . In the courtyard, the ducal kitchens (1433) host exhibitions of works by local artists.