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Key figures

Origin and history

The museum of the Hospice Saint-Roch d'Issoudun occupies the buildings of a former hotel-Dieu founded in the 12th century. Originally dedicated to the care of the poor and abandoned children, it becomes a place of care from 1502. The current buildings, rebuilt at the end of the 15th century under the impulse of the Rector Pierre de la Chèze, include a Gothic chapel decorated with two trees of Jessé carved (circa 1500), masterpieces of the medieval religious statuary. These monumental sculptures, classified as historical monuments in 1965, illustrate the royal and priestly genealogies of Christ, unique by their separation into two distinct trees.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Hospice was enriched with an apothecary founded in 1646 by Jean Perrot, preserved intact with its 379 pots in Nevers faience and its original woodwork. One of France's most comprehensive clinics is the medical practice of the time. The museum also houses a baroque altarpiece of 1714, commissioned for the Hospice des Incurables, as well as a harpsichord by Jean Denis (1648), the oldest instrument dated and signed by French public collections. These elements reflect the prosperity of Issoudun in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Hospice was the most important in Berry.

Since 1966, the museum, labeled Musée de France, combines historical heritage and contemporary art. A modern wing, enlarged in 2007, exhibits works by Fred Deux and Cécile Reims, as well as a reconstitution of Leonor Fini's Parisian salon, a figure of post-surrealism, furnished with pieces by the École de Nancy (Gallé, Majorelle). The museum also maintains an ethnographic collection of Papua New Guinea, donated by the Sacred Heart missionaries, and organizes temporary exhibitions of artists such as Gérard Garouste or Jan Voss.

The site, classified as a historical monument, combines medieval architecture (chapelle, halls of the sick) and contemporary (building of 1995). Its garden of medicinal plants recalls the original vocation of the hospice, while the 22,820 annual visitors (2016) testify to its attractiveness. The collections, structured in chronological and thematic paths, cover more than 2,000 m2, from the Iron Age to current art, including Gallo-Roman objects, Limous enamels (Leonard Limosin) and Merovingian sarcophagi.

The museum's history was marked by destruction during the 1940 bombing, followed by a reorganization in 1966. Successive expansions (2002, 2007) have enabled the integration of contemporary donations and ocean collections. Today, the museum combines heritage preservation (the 16th century windows, procession sticks) and innovation, with dynamic scenography such as that dedicated to Leonor Fini, combining films, photographs and period furniture.

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