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Origin and history

The Musée Le Secq des Tournelles originated in the passion of Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq Destournelles (1818–82), a painter and pioneer photographer. Missioned by Prosper Mérimée to document the French Historical Monuments (1845), he discovered antique ironwork pieces and began a collection around 1865. His son, Henry (1854–1925), continued this heritage and enriched it, before offering it to the city of Rouen in 1917, where his ancestors were native.

The collection gained fame at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, where Henry Le Secq lent nearly a thousand items. Although the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris wishes to exhibit part of it, the collector prefers to bequeath the ensemble to Rouen. The city, grateful, installed the museum in the disused church of St. Lawrence (late 15th century), restored in 1911. Inaugurated in 1921, the museum became a reference point for ironmakers and art lovers, with pieces ranging from antiquity to the twentieth century.

After the death of Henry Le Secq in 1925, the museum continues to enrich itself thanks to prestigious gifts, such as those of Germany (1951) or the bequests of Bréard (1951) and Sangnier-dessirier (1957). Today, the collection has nearly 16,000 wrought, gold-plated or molded iron objects covering various themes: signs, locks, tools, liturgical or household objects. Only weapons are missing, already collected elsewhere.

The former St. Lawrence church, saved from the ruin in 1893, offers a historic setting for these treasures. The museum, labeled Museum of France, illustrates both European crafts (Germany, Spain, Italy...) and oriental pieces (India, Arab countries). His interest lies in the diversity of objects, combining technical mastery and popular artistic expression, from Gallo-Roman to modern.

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