Bayonne’s flagship art museum is ready to welcome back visitors after 15 long years. On November 27, 2025, the Bonnat-Helleu Museum (also known as Musée Bonnat-Helleu) reopened following a vast, nearly 14-year renovation. This marks one of the biggest cultural moments the southwest of France has seen in decades.
Founded in 1891, this institution takes its name from two painters whose major bequests, made between 1922 and 2011, shaped the heart of its collection. That legacy was later enriched by donations from Antonin Personnaz in 1936 and Jacques Petithory in 1992. The museum closed in 2011 when the building no longer met safety and accessibility standards. Soon after, French firm BLP was brought in to lead renovations, restoring the eclectic building designed by Charles Planckaert.
Also, learn why price hikes have been announced for non-EU visitors to the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Inside the Bonnat-Helleu Museum
The Musée Bonnat-Helleu in Bayonne Is Open Again!
The 14 year restoration vastly expanded historic building exhibition space while modernizing the 19th-century infrastructure. The museum now is showcasing scholarly discoveries and 2,500 works on loan from the Louvre. pic.twitter.com/EI60Q3aWTh
— La Gazette Drouot – International (@Gazette_Inter) December 1, 2025
With a total budget of around EUR 29 million (approximately MYR 139 million), the overhaul has doubled the exhibition space, fully modernised the building’s environmental controls, improved accessibility throughout and completely reworked the layout to bring thousands of long-stored works back into public view.
“Another EUR 4 million (approximately MYR 19 million) was spent on restoring 1,300 works. While Jean-Dominique Ingres’s La Baigneuse has regained its brilliance, there have also been discoveries, including autographs in El Greco paintings and pentimenti and overpaintings in Simon Vouet’s Roman Charity (1620s),” reported The Art Newspaper.
The visitor experience has also been brought up to date, as they can now look forward to:
- Masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya and Michelangelo.
- One of France’s most important Old Masters collections, with around 7,000 works in total.
- As many as 2,500 works (on long-term loan) from the Louvre Museum.
- A fully restored historic building, from Giandomenico Facchina’s mosaic floors to the diamond-shaped glass roof over the central courtyard.
- A newly added wing in a former neighbouring school, which has doubled the gallery space and introduced a café, office facilities and much more.
Did You Know?
Bayonne’s first municipal art collection dates back to the 1830s, when the city bought works from young local artists like Léon Bonnat and Achille Zo, supplemented by State donations.The museum will be open throughout the year, with the following exceptions:
- Closed on Tuesdays
- Closed during the Bayonne Festival (Thursday to Sunday)
- Closed on January 1, May 1 and December 25
Ticket pricing runs on a seasonal structure. From November 1 to April 30, standard adult admission is EUR 9 (approximately MYR 43), with reduced and group rates (for 10 or more adults) both set at EUR 6 (approximately MYR 29). During the peak season from May 1 to October 31, adult tickets are priced at EUR 11 (approximately MYR 53), while reduced and group rates are EUR 8 (approximately MYR 38).
For more information on timings, exhibitions and events, visit the official website.
(Feature image credit: Musée Bonnat-Helleu/Facebook)
This article first appeared here
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
