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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Queen Berengère Museum is a set of three wood-paned houses located on the eponymous street in Le Mans, in the heart of the city of Plantagenet. Although its name evokes Berengère de Navarre (1165-1230), wife of Richard Coeur de Lion, the main building actually dates back to the late 15th century and was rebuilt by medieval merchants, the Verons. The popular legend combines these houses with the Queen's death, but historical research suggests a connection with the Bellanger family, a rich line of traders and lawyers who had occupied the place since 1403. The house called "de l'Annonciation" (n°9) is distinguished by its facade carved with statuettes depicting the Virgin and Angel Gabriel, inspired by the Italian style with arabesques and vegetal motifs.

In the 19th century, these houses, then abandoned, were rediscovered thanks to a lithography by Alexander Boyot and became a symbol of romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages. In 1836 antique dealers looted part of the outside sculptures, like eight statuettes transformed into table feet. In the face of this deterioration, Mayor Louis Cordelet tried to protect the heritage, but it was only in 1881 that the houses were classified as historical monuments. A fire then damaged the structure, before Adolphe Singher, director of the Mutuelles du Mans, bought them back in 1891 to restore them in a Renaissance style, even finding statues scattered in the Orne.

The museum officially opened in 1925, presenting local ethnological and artistic collections, such as ceramics by Ligron, paintings by Théodore Boulard, or furniture typical of Maine. The exhibits evoked Sarthian rural life, handicrafts (sabs, woodwork) and industrialization (foundries). Among the remarkable pieces were terracotta spears, symbols of wealth, and works by potter Louis-Léopold Thuilant, immortalized by the photos of Robert Doisneau. Closed in 2022, his collections were transferred to the museums of Tesse and Jean-Claude Boulard-Carré Plantagenêt.

The Renaissance house, with its carved sandstone of a ram and its remarkable frame, illustrates the opulence of the merchants of Le Mans at the end of the Middle Ages. Its seigneurial oratory, its Gothic fireplaces (including a moulding of the museum of Cluny), and its furniture of the 15th and 16th centuries made it a rare testimony of civil architecture of the time. The "fire chamber", with its two-body buffet and basset (typical Sarthois furniture), restored a bourgeois domestic atmosphere, while the upper floors housed religious, medical and artisanal objects, such as tins or Gregorian songs books.

The museum's history is also that of its collectors. Adolphe Singher, an art lover, published a 70-page catalogue in 1898 and opened its doors to the public long before the city acquired it. Madame Liger, widow of a great collector, presented major pieces, such as a 14th century seigneurial bench or a tapestry of Louis XII. The donations continued in the 20th century, with paintings by Paul Soyer representing local foundries or portraits of workers by Charles Eugène Morancé. The museum thus became a place of memory of the Sarthe, mixing architectural heritage, daily life and industrial revolution.

Despite its closure, the building remains a symbol of medieval and reborn Mans. Its classification in 1881 and then in 1913 underlined its heritage importance, while its half-timbered facades and carved decorations attest to the know-how of the artisans of Maine. The controversies surrounding his name (Bellanger vs Berengère) and the sometimes fanciful restorations of Adolphe Singher add to his mystery. Today, although its collections have been dispersed, Queen Bérengère's house remains a key witness to the urban and cultural history of Le Mans, between the legend of the plantagenêt and the commercial reality.

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