The Lyon Art museums hub
The Art museums hub: two museums, two collections, a new dimension
An MBA ticket purchased less than 6 months ago? Pay the reduced rate at macLYON!
In 2018, the City of Lyon created the Art museums hub, which brought together the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (MBA) and the Contemporary Art Museum (macLYON). Its ambition was to give the city's museums a more dynamic and innovative profile, and to enhance their fame on local, national, and international levels through innovative collaborations. Doing so, Lyon founded the only art museums hub of its kind in France, with artworks spanning from Antiquity to the most contemporary creations.
The Hub is a space where the museums' staff and visitors can experiment, explore new forms of expression, exchange points of view, and bridge old divides. It is an opportunity to create a new kind of museum experience, in touch with our moving, changing world.
The Art museums hub enables each museum to expand its own programme by providing activities which are devised in partnership: artist residencies at both museums, exhibitions on common themes based on works from their respective collections, and programmes where visitors go back and forth between the sites, so they can experience the synergy between the two museums for themselves.
Last but not least, the Hub is an opportunity to play a part in widening the concept of the museum: a place reinventing itself since the beginning of the 21st century. It invites us to create new narratives by forging a connection between two collections, to go beyond their history and individual identities.
The museum of Fine Arts is one of the largest French and European museums.
Located in the heart of Lyon, between the Rhône and Saône rivers, the museum is located in a magnificent building dating from the 17th century. The collections are exhibited in over 70 rooms and offer visitors an outstanding sample of art from Antiquity to contemporary art. The museum's collections are frequently enriched thanks to an active acquisition policy relying on private donors, art lovers, collectors and artists' heirs.
Five departments illustrate more than 5 000 years of art history : antiquities, decorative arts, coins and medals collections, 14th to 20th century paintings and sculptures.
Established in 1984 in a wing of the Palais Saint-Pierre, in 1995 the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon moved to the site of the Cité internationale, a vast architectural ensemble spread over one kilometre on the edges of the Parc de la Tête d’Or, in Lyon’s 6th arrondissement and gathering hotels, restaurants, offices, housing but also a casino or a cinema.
The work of architect Renzo Piano, responsible for the entire site, the museum conserves the facade of the atrium of the former Palais de la Foire, overlooking the park. The Palais was designed by Charles Meysson in the 1920s.
The 6,000m2 museum is spread over several fl oors and presents modular spaces that are perfectly adapted to the needs of the di& erent artistic projects welcomed by the museum, as well as new forms of contemporary expression.
The macLYON focuses on current national and international art, in all its forms, o& ering exhibitions and a wide programme of transdisciplinary events.
Its collection includes over 1,400 works. A selection of these is shown in rotation at the macLYON as well as in several partner structures. Works of its collection are regularly loaned for exhibitions in France and all over the world. It consists mainly of monumental works and ensembles of works, dating from the 1940s to the current day, created by artists from all over the world, the majority for exhibitions at the museum or for the Biennales d’art contemporain de Lyon, for which the museum oversees the artistic direction.
The museum is hosting the 17th Lyon Biennale until January 5, 2025.
Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Weekends, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Musée d'Art Contemporain
Lyon, France
+ 33 (0)4 72 69 17 17
Full-price PASS: €20 on site / €18 online.
PASS Reduced price: €12 on site / €10 online.
Free for under 18. See details here.
The Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art is located at the Cité Internationale, Lyon 6e.
It is very easily accessible by bus (lines C1, C4 and C5), bicycle (cycle paths along the quays and the Parc Tête d'Or) or car (three carparks along the quai Charles de Gaulle).
To find out more about reduced mobility accessibility, go to the dedicated page.
The macBAR is open, more information on opening hours here.
The bookshop is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Weekends, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
