Art gallery
Musée Mandet
The Musée Mandet, founded in 1866 and given the name of Francisque Mandet who was the President of the Society of the museum, is housed in two eighteenth-century town houses linked by a gallery which is used for temporary exhibitions. The first house, the Hôtel Dufraisse, was built in 1707 in the Parisian style ; it houses collections of painting and sculpture from the 17th up to the 19th century. In 2011, a new department of Design and Contemporary Decorative Arts opened on the ground floor of the east wing. The opening of this new department led to the courtyard and the entrance porch regaining the aspect they had in the 18th century and both are set off by the contemporary work «Pas-sage» by artist Hélène Mugot. The second house dates from the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries and was restored in 1983. It houses a rich collection of objects and decorative art from Antiquity up to the 18th century. The collection was given to the museum by the generous Riom donators M.J and E. Richard.
