Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon is one of the most important museums, not only in France but also in Europe. Its unique collection is stored in a former Benedictine monastery. The museum is located on the Place des Terreaux.

The monastery has ceased to be a religious institution in the Great French Revolution. First, in its premises located Palace of Commerce and Arts, which presented cultural property seized from the church. Over time, the collection was replenished with natural science and archaeological exhibits. From 1805 to 1860 the palace housed the imperial school, which trained artists for silk factories. Then the museum was opened here. At the end of the XX century was a large-scale restoration of the building.

Today the museum's collection includes works of art from different countries and times - from antiquity to modernity. They are on display in 70 galleries. The earliest works in the collection date from the XV century painting. This collection contains paintings of the masters of the Italian, French, German, Spanish and Flemish painting - about two thousand paintings, authored by Veronese, Tintoretto, Perugino, Ingres, Delacroix, Sisley, Degas, Gauguin, Cezanne, Renoir, El Greco, Rembrandt Rubens, Van Dyck and many other masters.

Collection of Sculpture is equally well-known artists - such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Rodin, Bartholdi, Maillol, Modigliani, Picasso and others. This collection consists of 1300 works of art - sculptures from medieval sculpture to the early XX century. Part of the exhibition can be seen in the garden of the museum.

Department of ancient art is known for its collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The main contribution to it made the Louvre, who passed in 1895, some 400 items, and the descendants of the scientist-Egyptologist Victor Loret in the middle of the last century.

In the museum you can also see works of art in the Middle East and Mesopotamia (Sumer, Assyria and ancient Persia), a rich numismatic collection, ceramics, China, Japan and Korea, works of applied art, graphics and more.