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Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée Pierre-Noël, located in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in the Vosges (Great East Region), is a museum of history and modern art labeled Museum of France. Founded in 1977, it includes historical remains such as the colonnade of the ancient episcopal palace (1782) and a listed medieval staircase, vestige of the walls of the church district. Its modern architecture, signed Aldo Travaglini, contrasts with these heritage elements, while bas-reliefs by Françoise Malaprade adorn its facade.

The museum owes its name to Pierre Noël, mayor of Saint-Dié from 1965 to 1977. His collections cover archaeology (Gallo-Roman steles of the Celtic camp of the Bure), military history (1800–1945, with a focus on René Fonck, aces of the First World War), ornithology (local and European species, including the Great Tetras threatened), and modern art (works by Claire and Yvan Goll, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier). A section is dedicated to Jules Ferry, a native of the region, with personal objects and a classroom reconstruction of the time.

The archaeological collection showcases protohistoric and ancient artifacts, including pink sandstone funerary steles from the Celtic camp of La Bure, a site excavated in the 1960s–70s by Georges Trimouille and Jacques Cadiot. These pieces, like the forge master stele (III century), illustrate the life of the Leuques, the local Gaulish people. A model of the camp, made in 1980, completes this section.

The space dedicated to the twentieth century evokes the reconstruction of Saint-Dié after 1944, with a model of Le Corbusier's unrealized project for the city, as well as graphic works and furniture by Jean Prouvé. The modern art collection, exhibited in mezzanine, includes paintings from the New School of Paris (Jean Bazaine, Alfred Manessier) and pieces from the Claire and Yvan Goll fonds, close to surrealists.

The museum offers temporary exhibitions (such as Manessier, painter of passions in 2023–24) and participates in national events (Heritage Days, Night of Museums). It depends on the Community of Agglomeration of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and collaborates with the Vosges Philomatic Society for the preservation of local heritage. An extension project, announced in 2018 after the move of the neighbouring media library, did not finally succeed.

Since 2020, the bird collection has been the subject of a digitisation project supported by the Ministry of Higher Education. The specimens, representative of European and Vosgesian fauna, are partially accessible online via the POP Mona Lisa platform. The museum, managed by a ten-person team, also hosts educational workshops and conferences, notably in the François Cholé room, dedicated to a local pianist.

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