TEMPORARY CLOSURE

Around 1790, Paul-Michel Thibault (1735 – 1799), the architect of le havre fortifications and hydraulic engineer, decided to build a mansion in the wealthy and coveted district of the city.
In 1800, Martin Pierre Foache, a wealthy merchant, bought the house as a winter residence and installed his trading office there. He asked another architect, Pierre Adrien Pâris, former designer for the king, to decorate the interior.

The façade is typical of the architecture of the Louis XVI period. It is extremely carefully designed ; the parquet flooring of rare and exotic wood adjoins stone-tiled floors with geometric designs. The rooms are laid out around a central octogonal light-well.

PLANTS, A journey through botanical illustration
2 April to November 2025

Immerse yourself in an enchanting journey through time and nature with the "Végétales - Voyage dans l'illustration botanique" exhibition. Set in the majestic setting of Graville Abbey, this exhibition invites you, through delicate watercolor drawings, to explore the richness and beauty of medieval gardens, where each plant tells a story.

From April 2 to November 2, an exhibition built around botanical illustration takes over the convent buildings. In partnership with the Société nationale d?horticulture, twenty-five artists have joined forces with Ariane Mercier and Elisabeth Vitou to bring to life the richness and diversity of these forgotten plants and gardens. Their drawings and watercolors will recount their history and evolution, from the food crops of the Middle Ages to the curious or scientific collections of explorers from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Some one hundred works: original drawings, printed works, herbariums, plates and educational models will embody this abundant harvest.

For one season, they will transform Graville Abbey into a botanical laboratory where plants, their virtues, their study, their representations - symbolic, anatomical or artistic - and their lovers, will be in the spotlight.

LITTLE SAILS
From 8 February 2025

To celebrate the Year of the Sea, and in conjunction with the "Grandes Voiles" event in summer 2025, Le Havre's Museums of Art and History invite you to plunge into the fascinating world of Le Havre's maritime collections.

These "little" sails, displayed on the first floor and in two rooms on the second floor, celebrate the great hours of sailing and the city of Le Havre from the 16th to the mid-19th century. Shipbuilding, ship typologies and portraits, maritime activities: fishing, military, merchant, sporting and artistic worlds will be evoked through a selection of graphic works, paintings, models and objects of art or curiosity. Never-before-seen acquisitions, recently-restored drawings and old heritage collections examine the image of the sailboat in its many dimensions: functional, aesthetic, artistic, poetic and symbolic.

Gathered in the heart of a historic district, in the home of Michel Joseph Dubocage, ship?s captain, privateer and explorer, they make up, for the duration of their exhibition, a rich and surprising fleet, reflecting the history of our port city.