THE HOTEL PARTICULIER
An 18th century historic mansion situated in the heart of Avignon, the hôtel de Caumont, 5 rue violette, houses the Collection Lambert. It was constructed in the middle of the 18th century by the Franque brothers, rival architects to Mignard. The brothers had already drawn up the plans for the Musée Calvet - a fair number of reminders of this neighbouring museum can be noted in the entrance or the large gallery of the hôtel de Caumont. After the French Revolution, the hôtel particulier was in turn transformed into a school for boys in the 19th century, a military barracks, then in the 1970s into an arts faculty.
The facade and the courtyard are registered in the inventory of historic monuments of France. The main gates, the building's facade and the courtyard shaded by plane trees are intact though inside, only the entrance hall with its handsome paving and staircase of beautiful Provençal craftsmanship have escaped the massive destruction that has taken place during different occupancies of the site.The mission of the most recent refurbishment was simply to restore the original volumes and the initial layout: the light-filled sequence of the six ground floor rooms was rediscovered, the old stables became a beautiful space with archways and the proportion of the main gallery regained all its marvellousness with its 37 metre length and its large French doors facing south. The attic, never before open to the public, has been integrated into the museum visit. Special commissions have been made by internationally renowned artists. These artworks dialogue with the architecture and Provençal light. Lawrence Weiner has taken up the Latin, then Anglo-Saxon tradition of highlighting the corbelled construction of the facade, in writing on the exterior 'Down and Out'.In the entrance Jenny Holzer had magnified the height of the ceiling in creating a luminous diode more than 9.5 metres tall. A delicate ceiling was painted by the young Korean artist Koo Jeong-a. Niele Toroni chose interventions that highlight architectural elements, Giulio Paolini has drawn the double door at the entrance as an invitation to penetrate inside an ancient collection, Robert Barry takes on an old emergency stairwell and it becomes a work of art. Finally Claude Lévêque has transformed the attics into Dantean geography: the vision of a volcano at the beginning of its eruption is offered to visitors.
An 18th century historic mansion situated in the heart of Avignon, the hôtel de Caumont, 5 rue violette, houses the Collection Lambert. It was constructed in the middle of the 18th century by the Franque brothers, rival architects to Mignard. The brothers had already drawn up the plans for the Musée Calvet - a fair number of reminders of this neighbouring museum can be noted in the entrance or the large gallery of the hôtel de Caumont. After the French Revolution, the hôtel particulier was in turn transformed into a school for boys in the 19th century, a military barracks, then in the 1970s into an arts faculty.
The facade and the courtyard are registered in the inventory of historic monuments of France. The main gates, the building's facade and the courtyard shaded by plane trees are intact though inside, only the entrance hall with its handsome paving and staircase of beautiful Provençal craftsmanship have escaped the massive destruction that has taken place during different occupancies of the site.The mission of the most recent refurbishment was simply to restore the original volumes and the initial layout: the light-filled sequence of the six ground floor rooms was rediscovered, the old stables became a beautiful space with archways and the proportion of the main gallery regained all its marvellousness with its 37 metre length and its large French doors facing south. The attic, never before open to the public, has been integrated into the museum visit. Special commissions have been made by internationally renowned artists. These artworks dialogue with the architecture and Provençal light. Lawrence Weiner has taken up the Latin, then Anglo-Saxon tradition of highlighting the corbelled construction of the facade, in writing on the exterior 'Down and Out'.In the entrance Jenny Holzer had magnified the height of the ceiling in creating a luminous diode more than 9.5 metres tall. A delicate ceiling was painted by the young Korean artist Koo Jeong-a. Niele Toroni chose interventions that highlight architectural elements, Giulio Paolini has drawn the double door at the entrance as an invitation to penetrate inside an ancient collection, Robert Barry takes on an old emergency stairwell and it becomes a work of art. Finally Claude Lévêque has transformed the attics into Dantean geography: the vision of a volcano at the beginning of its eruption is offered to visitors.
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