Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée de la Loire was born in 1900 in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, carried by local notables such as architect Albert Pasquet and poet Achille Millien. Originally set up at the city hall, it brings together various gifts (paintings, fossils, currencies) in an educational aim inherited from the Revolution. The first collections, heteroclites, reflect the popular enthusiasm: the City, the department, and patrons like the Marquis de Tracy finance its opening on April 5, 1900.

In 1937, the museum moved to the former sub-prefecture, classified by theme (arms, tins, ceramics). On 16 June 1940, a bombardment destroyed the building and some of the works, including state deposits. Saved by families like the Giblin, the surviving collections are scattered. In the 1950s, Georges Henri Rivière planned a national museum of the Loire, a project abandoned despite an exhibition of prefiguration at the Éden Cinéma.

Since 1991, the museum has occupied the former convent of Augustins (inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1977). It is structured around two poles: an ethnographic collection on the professions of the Loire (mariners, lavender) and a collection of fine arts, enriched by major legacies. The one by Émile Loiseau in 1970 brought works by the École de Paris (Dufy, Utrillo, Chagall) and extreme-eastern objects. In 2020, the museum inventory 2,113 pieces.

The acquisitions are based on donations, bequests, purchases and deposits (the Orsay Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris). Among the notable legacies, that of Émile Fernand-Dubois (1952) bequeaths his sculptures and archives, while the legacy Le Blanc de la Caudrie (1912) offers tins, faiences and weapons. The museum obtains labels (Musée de France in 2003, Accueil vélo in 2016) and develops a cultural offer (guided tours, temporary exhibitions).

The permanent exhibition explores the Loire through ship models, Nevers faiences and sailor tools. The room Louis and René Giblin presents riveric beliefs (cult of St.Nicolas), while the art collection showcases painters such as Raoul Dufy or Pinchus Krémègne. Temporary exhibitions and conferences complement this programme, rooted in the heritage of the Niger and modern art.

The convent of the Augustinians, a current building, preserves historical elements such as re-employment sculptures and murderers. Ranked a Historical Monument, it symbolizes the museum's resilience, from a 19th century municipal project to a labeled institution, combining river memory and international art. Its disabled access and virtual tour reflect a willingness to open up to the public.

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