The Adrien Dubouché National Museum - Limoges - "Cité de la Céramique - Sèvres & Limoges"

The Adrien Dubouché National Museum is located in the heart of the world's fire arts capital. It presents the different techniques used for ceramic-making. It also traces back through the history of art and civilizations through the prism of porcelain, a matter that continues to reveal its assets today.
Visitors are greeted in an emblematic venue, conceived to enhance all 300.000 of its pieces. After contemplating the original 1900 building, decorated with various pieces of porcelain, visitors are invited to cross the garden to an impressive glass façade, that links the old historical building to the old Decorative Arts School. This unusual architecture shows what a huge renovation program the museum underwent, beginning in 2003. The Austrian architect Boris Podrecca managed the project: a contemporary junction between the two pre-existing buildings, a type of parallel between two temporalities. He gave the old school a cohesive longevity while developing the old historical building's possibilities. This was one of France's largest projects over the last 10 years: the museum doubled its original size to 7.000 square meters, enabling it to become wheelchair-friendly and to host temporary exhibitions. The number of visitors also doubled. Almost 30.000 people come to admire the museum's splendid ceramics, each year since the renovations took place. Special porcelain signposts with industrial typography guide visitors during their tour.
The tour begins with the "Technique Mezzanine" designed by Boris Podrecca: a gallery of light that introduces visitors to the origins of ceramics with 4 blocks representing the different steps of porcelain-making.
The historical building takes visitors on a journey to the genesis of ceramic history. The exhibition hall was inaugurated in 1900. It was designed specially to house ceramic pieces offered by the museum's main sponsor, Adrien Dubouché.
This long corridor's display cabinets is a registered Historical Monument. It presents potteries, earthenware, stoneware, glass, and porcelain in various forms, whether they are artistic, practical, or industrial, from the Ancient Times to the 18th century. When you walk down this corridor, you are taking a stroll through time and civilizations. Ceramics have been part of everyday life since 10.000 BC. By having a look at each item, visitors get a better idea of how civilizations influenced, enriched, and sometimes competed with each other, through commercial, cultural, and intellectual exchanges over the centuries. Porcelain presented important stakes once it appeared in China in the 6th century. It only appeared in Europe in the early 18th century, which gives us an idea of the covetousness it aroused. It was considered a treasure fit for kings, precious and expensive since no one knew how to make it back then. In the 18th century, ceramics became art objects.
New era, new universe for the third part of the museum located in the old Decorative Arts School: much like a classroom, with a colourful labyrinth of cabinets displaying works from the 19th century to today. In the 19th century, artists rediscovered just about everything, whether in terms of culture (the Far East, Japonism, Ancient Egypt...), or artistic movements (Romanticism, Impressionism...). Quite often, ceramics are a stakeholder and even a pioneer of different artistic movements through time.
The last, most prestigious part of the tour: the thinnest Limoges porcelain collection in the world. The scenography was completely reinvented during the museum's renovations. It wraps visitors up in an incomparable architectural atmosphere. The ray of light from the room's glass ceiling shines upon the display cabinets, lighting them up like immaculate treasure chests containing porcelain gems.
Visiting the Adrien Dubouché museum means understanding the evolution of the world's civilizations, exploring the History of Art, contemplating the genius of Man and discovering the golden age of Limousin porcelain that continues to evolve today. In May of 2012, the museum created a partnership with the public Institution of Sèvres to create the " Cité de la céramique - Sèvres & Limoges". This partnership shows Limoges's worldwide aura and makes the museum a "must" on the "Route de la Porcelaine".