Visit a museum or interpretation center

Are you passionate about art, history or simply curious? The museums and interpretation centers of the Compiègne-Pierrefonds destination promise an enriching and informative visit.

The city's museums de Compiègne

ART AND HISTORY

The city's three museums de Compiègne constitute a real treasure for lovers of art and history.

Richard Dugovic - RCAF

The Antoine Vivenel Museum

Installed on the ground floor of the Town Hall, the museum of art and archeology de Compiègne was born from the private collection of art objects of a local patron from whom it takes its name. Since 2016, the permanent route has presented a modern and innovative scenography. In 2023, it was enriched with the historic immersion site “Know Compiègne!” » which offers a virtual tour of major places in the region to be extended in situ using an exploration notebook.

Xavier Renoux - Oise Tourism

The Historical Figurine Museum

Born from different donations and legacies to the City de Compiègne, Historical Figurine Museum is adjacent to the Town Hall. It presents in the form of dioramas miniature and realistic stagings of historical scenes such as the Battle of Waterloo. The museum houses thousands of figurines, the majority of which constitute armies from History. Entrance is included in the Antoine Vivenel Museum ticket.

ARC

The Saint-Corneille cloister museum

Created in the heart of the famous Saint-Corneille Abbey, the Saint-Corneille cloister museum traces the history of this religious monument founded in 877 and which remains the cradle of the city de Compiègne. This extension of the Antoine Vivenel museum houses a rich lapidary collection from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, including the recumbent figure of Joan of Hangest and a statue of Saint Joseph of Arimathien (early 16th century). Free entry.

Themed museums

Discover other museums specializing in a particular theme, whether it be transport, luxury brushmaking during the Belle-Époque or even the local history of the village of Pierrefonds.

National Car Museum

In the heart of the imperial palace de Compiègne, discover the exceptional collection of national car museum created in 1927. It houses around a hundred horse-drawn vehicles from the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century, around thirty old automobiles as well as a section devoted to the history of the cycle. It also maintains an important iconographic collection on the theme of transport as well as models and scale models.

The Brosseries museum workshop

Head to Tracy-le-Mont, a Picardy village once called the “European capital of brushmaking”. Here, the hunters of the Brossier memory have created a veritable heritage treasure of ten thousand objects where luxury brushes, exotic woods, Chinese silks, tools, machines, photographs, testimonies and archives intermingle… The brushworks workshop-museum can be visited on the first Saturday of the month and in season on the 1st and 3rd weekend of the month.

The Secrets of Pierrefonds

In this private museum created by a passionate Pétrifontain, more than 400 works bear witness to local history. “ The Secrets of Pierrefonds » retrace the history of the Pierrefonds castle, the spa, the old museums, the train station, the earthenware factory, but also famous visitors and even films and series that were filmed in the historic city...

Jean Pierre Gilson

Gil Giuglio

Interpretation centers

INDUSTRIAL AND HISTORICAL HERITAGE

Don't miss exploring the permanent exhibitions at the region's interpretation centers such as the old sugar factory in Francières or the Royallieu camp.

The Candy of Francières

Located 18 km away de Compiègne, the candy Francières is one of the oldest in the Hauts-de-France region. In operation from 1829 to 1969, it has today been transformed into an interpretation center for the sugar industry and agro-resource industries. We discover the history of the site as well as the stages of manufacturing sugar from beets. Take advantage of the sugar experimentation workshops offered in the laboratory.

ASSF

The Internment and Deportation Memorial - Royallieu Camp

In the common memory of the two world wars, the city de Compiègne evokes the signing of the armistices of 1918 and 1940. But the town also housed the only French internment camp placed from the start under the authority of the German army on the Royallieu site. THE " Journey of deportees, a European overview », immersive video projection device inaugurated in 2023, allows you to visualize the journey of deportees leaving the camp de Compiègne to German concentration camps.

In addition, an urban route marked by nails on the ground leads from the Royallieu Camp Memorial to that of the Deportation Wagons at the station. de Compiègne. It retraces the route taken on foot by thousands of prisoners towards the Nazi camps between 1941 and 1944.

Jean Pierre Gilson