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Key figures

Origin and history

The house Pincé, built between 1528 and 1535 by the architect Jean Delespine for Jean de Pincé, mayor of Angers, is a jewel of the Angelvin Renaissance. Ranked a historic monument in 1875, this private hotel on Lenepveu Street embodies the civil architecture of the time, with its adorned facades and its typical organization of the urban houses of notables.

In 1861, the painter Guillaume Bodinier acquired the house to donate it to the city of Angers, in order to set up a museum housing the collections of Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé. Opened to the public in 1889, the Pincé Museum was originally dedicated to Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian antiques, as well as to the Chinese and Japanese arts, reflecting the 19th-century enthusiasm for ancient civilizations.

Closed in 2005 for security reasons, the museum reopens in February 2020 after a complete renovation. Its modern museum, organized by geographical area, incorporates innovative devices such as an olfactory experience on incense or a digital workshop on Egyptian embalming. The collections, enriched by historical gifts (Turpin de Crissé, Moll, Saint-Genys) and recent gifts (donation Léveilley in 2023), cover 6,000 years of history.

Since its reopening, the museum offers a permanent upstairs tour and temporary exhibitions on the ground floor, exploring cross-cutting themes with the other museums in Angers. Recent exhibitions have addressed the sea (2020), the show (2021), plant inspiration (2022), seduction (2023), and the donation Léveilley (2024), illustrating the diversity of collections.

Architecturally, the house Pincé remains an exceptional testimony of the Renaissance in Anjou, with its carved decorations and its spiral staircase. Its ranking among historical monuments highlights its heritage value, while its museum vocation makes it a major cultural place in the Pays de la Loire, attracting lovers of ancient art and local history.

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