Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is a municipal fine arts museum in Lyon, France, housed in a former 17th-century royal abbey, preserving collections from antiquity to contemporary art and serving the public through exhibitions, educational programs, digital platforms, and on-site amenities.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1800
- HeadquartersLyon, France
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon does
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is a municipal fine arts museum established in 1801 and located at 20, place des Terreaux, Lyon, within the historic former Royal Abbey of Saint-Pierre (Palais Saint-Pierre). It operates as an 'établissement municipal à caractère culturel' under the Ville de Lyon, holding the official 'Musée de France' designation. The museum houses permanent collections spanning antiquity (Egyptian, Greco-Roman), medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art — a continuous arc of more than six centuries — and is one of the largest fine arts museums in France outside Paris. The director is Sylvie Ramond, who also serves as the institution's publishing director.
The museum's core offering is in-person access to these collections, supported by a digital layer that includes the multilingual MBA Lyon mobile application (iOS and Android) with audiotours in English, Italian, and Chinese; a Collections Online portal; ultra-high-definition Gigapixel artwork photography; presence on Google Arts & Culture; and a podcast and audiotour distribution on SoundCloud. A dedicated Images Department (Service Images) manages licensing of high-resolution images for publication, supported by a photographic archive of more than sixty years spanning glass plates to digital formats. The product surface is rounded out by a tea room and restaurant, a bookshop and store, and event hosting services for corporate and private functions. Educational programming covers school visits from nursery through university, structured workshops, and themed visits.
The business model blends earned and contributed revenue. Earned streams include admission ticketing (online via Tickeasy and on-site), membership programs (Club du musée Saint-Pierre, Cercle Poussin, Amis du musée), publication sales, museum store and restaurant/tea room operations, image-rights licensing, and venue rental. Contributed revenue comes from the 'Entreprises mécènes de projets' corporate sponsorship program and individual philanthropy through membership tiers. As a municipal establishment, the museum is also financed by the Ville de Lyon, which acts as parent organization and hosts its digital infrastructure. The museum runs active international co-curation (e.g., Musée national Picasso-Paris, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, INBA Mexico, IFAO Cairo) and cultural cross-promotion partnerships (Cinéma Lumière Terreaux, Conservatoire de Lyon, 'Tout le monde dehors').
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
- Legal name
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
- Website
- https://mba-lyon.fr
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1800
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is a municipal fine arts museum in Lyon, France, housed in a former 17th-century royal abbey, preserving collections from antiquity to contemporary art and serving the public through exhibitions, educational programs, digital platforms, and on-site amenities.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Fine Arts Museum
- NAICS
- Museums (71211), Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Art Museums (THAJADAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH), Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG), Museum & Landmark Guided Tours (Skip-the-line/Docent-led) (THAJAAAC), Specialty & Historic Venues (Landmarks, Estates) (THAHAAAK)
Keywords
Where Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lyon
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Ticket Sales: Admission fees for exhibitions and permanent collections, with free entry periods during special circumstances (extreme weather)
- Membership Programs: Annual membership programs including Club du musée Saint-Pierre, Cercle Poussin, and Amis du musée (Friends of the Museum)
- Corporate Sponsorship: Business sponsorship program (Entreprises mécènes de projets) for companies to support specific museum projects
- Restaurant and Tea Room: On-site café/restaurant service operating within the museum
- Museum Store/Boutique: Gift shop selling books, catalogs, art-related merchandise, and publications
- Image Rights and Reproduction: Sale of high-definition digital images for print, catalogues, and publications through the Images department
- Publications and Catalogues: Sale of exhibition catalogs and educational publications (prices ranging from 19€ to 45€)
- Venue Rental: Corporate event hosting services (Recevoir au musée) for private events in museum spaces
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Exhibition Catalogues |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Admission Tickets |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon operates as a municipal fine arts museum displaying permanent and temporary exhibitions spanning antiquities through contemporary art. Its service portfolio includes admission-based visits, structured school-group educational programs, individual and corporate membership tiers (Club du musée Saint-Pierre, Cercle Poussin, Amis du musée), a multilingual mobile application and audio tours, an online collections portal with gigapixel-resolution imagery, corporate event hosting ("Recevoir au musée"), image-rights licensing for publishers, exhibition catalogues, and on-site dining and retail (tea room/restaurant and bookshop).
Product overview
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon offers a diverse portfolio of services centered around its role as a major fine arts museum. The core offering includes access to permanent collections spanning antiquities, paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, coins, and graphic arts. Digital services encompass a mobile application (MBA Lyon) for iOS and Android providing audiotours and navigation; free audiotours in multiple languages via SoundCloud; an online collections database; and gigapixel high-resolution artwork images. The museum also provides educational programs for schools, publishes exhibition catalogues, offers image licensing services for publications, maintains a presence on Google Arts & Culture, and operates online ticketing through Tickeasy. Supporting amenities include a tea room, restaurant, and bookshop, while the museum offers event hosting facilities for private functions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- MBA Lyon Mobile Application Free mobile application for iOS and Android providing audiotours of the museum's permanent collections, collection information, and museum navigation for visitors and remote users.
- Audioguides and Podcasts Free audio-guided tours of the museum's collections available in English, Italian, and Chinese, hosted on SoundCloud and accessible via the website and mobile app.
- Collections Online Online database portal providing public access to the museum's catalogue of works and artworks, available via the museum website.
- Gigapixel Works Gigapixel ultra-high-definition photographs of artworks in the museum's collections, enabling viewers to examine brushwork and surface details online.
- Google Arts & Culture Presence Dedicated museum profile on the Google Arts & Culture platform showcasing collections, high-definition imagery, and virtual tours to a global online audience.
- Online Ticketing (Tickeasy) Self-serve online ticketing platform (Tickeasy) enabling visitors to purchase admission tickets for permanent collections and temporary exhibitions.
- School Visits and Educational Programs Structured educational visits, themed tours, debate sessions, and practical workshops for school groups from nursery through BTS level, supporting art-history curricula.
- Editions and Catalogues Sale of exhibition catalogues and scholarly publications documenting the museum's collections and temporary exhibitions, with unit prices ranging from €19 to €45.
- Service Images (Image Rights and Reproduction) Service Images department providing licensing of high-resolution digital images of works from the museum's photographic archive for use in print, catalogues, and online publications.
- Press Services Press office service providing press kits, downloadable high-resolution images, and other press materials to accredited journalists and media outlets.
- Tea Room and Restaurant On-site tea room and restaurant serving visitors within the museum building (former Royal Abbey of Saint-Pierre).
- Bookshop and Store On-site bookshop and store selling exhibition catalogues, art publications, gifts, and museum-related merchandise.
- Event Hosting (Recevoir au musée) Venue rental service ("Recevoir au musée") for corporate events, weddings, receptions, and private gatherings held within the museum's historic spaces.
Companies that use Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- Google Arts & CulturecoreDigital platform partnership allowing global online access to museum collections through Google's cultural heritage platform, including high-definition imagery and virtual tours.
- Tout le monde dehorscoreSummer concert series partnership bringing live music events to the museum garden. Annual program featuring Thursday evening concerts during summer months.
- Musée national Picasso-ParisflagshipCollaboration for the exhibition 'Picasso. Baigneuses et baigneurs' (July 2020 - January 2021), with curatorial support from Sylvie Ramond and Émilie Bouvard.
- Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, VeniceminorSupporting partner for the Picasso exhibition collaboration.
- Cinéma Lumière TerreauxcorePartner for coupled visits program 'Kino, du cinéma au musée' combining film screenings with museum visits exploring connections between cinema and visual arts.
- Conservatoire de LyoncoreMusic partnership for 'Musique en scène' program featuring student performances at the museum auditorium paired with collection visits.
- Ville de Lyon (City of Lyon)flagshipParent municipal organization. The museum is a municipal cultural establishment (établissement municipal à caractère culturel). Website hosted and managed by Ville de Lyon DSITN.
- Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes/Litografía, MexicominorInternational collaboration for the exhibition 'Los Modernos Dialogues France/Mexique' (2017-2018) with Museo Nacional de Arte.
- Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du CaireminorAcademic partnership for Egyptian antiquities documentation and research.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Musée des Confluences (Lyon): Another major Lyon museum within the same municipal Pôle des musées d'art, offering science and society collections rather than fine arts; competes for the same tourist and education audience within Lyon.
Broad incumbents
- Centre Pompidou: National French modern and contemporary art center with substantial overlap on the contemporary end of MBA Lyon's collection; flagship Parisian institution with significantly larger scale and visitor traffic.
- Musée d'Orsay: National French fine arts museum (national rather than municipal), focused on 1848-1914 art but overlapping with MBA Lyon's 19th-century offerings; operates as a much larger incumbent with greater international tourism flows.
Direct peers
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille: Another major French municipal fine arts museum of comparable scale, similarly housed in a historic building and offering collections spanning antiquities to contemporary art. Operates under the same 'Musée de France' municipal framework, making it a close operational and curatorial analogue.
- Musée de Grenoble: French municipal fine arts museum with a similarly broad collection spanning antiquities to contemporary art, offering temporary exhibitions, educational programming, and city-sponsored cultural programming.
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux: Regional French fine arts museum similarly housed in a historic civic building and funded by municipal government, with collections spanning multiple centuries and an active exhibition and education program.
- Musée des Augustins (Toulouse): French municipal fine arts museum housed in a former monastery (akin to MBA Lyon's royal abbey), offering a comparable mix of medieval to contemporary collections under municipal governance.
- Musée Fabre (Montpellier): Major municipal fine arts museum in France with comparable collections spanning European art history, exhibiting rotating temporary exhibitions and operating a membership and corporate sponsorship model similar to MBA Lyon.
- Petit Palais (Paris): Paris municipal fine arts museum offering a comparable fine arts collection housed in a historic building, with similar free-near-or-discounted admission policies and corporate venue rental.
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen: Another French municipal fine arts museum of comparable scale, housed in a historic building and offering mixed educational programs, exhibitions, and permanent collections under city governance.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon social profiles
Digital presenceMusée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
What does Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon do?
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon operates as a municipal fine arts museum displaying permanent and temporary exhibitions spanning antiquities through contemporary art. Its service portfolio includes admission-based visits, structured school-group educational programs, individual and corporate membership tiers (Club du musée Saint-Pierre, Cercle Poussin, Amis du musée), a multilingual mobile application and audio tours, an online collections portal with gigapixel-resolution imagery, corporate event hosting ("Recevoir au musée"), image-rights licensing for publishers, exhibition catalogues, and on-site dining and retail (tea room/restaurant and bookshop).
Is Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon a public or private company?
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon founded?
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon was founded in 1800. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon based?
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is headquartered in Lyon, France, in the Europe region.
How does Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon make money?
Eight revenue lines are on record. Ticket Sales are the primary driver. The others are membership Programs, corporate Sponsorship, restaurant and Tea Room, museum Store/Boutique, image Rights and Reproduction, publications and Catalogues and venue Rental.
Who are Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon's main competitors?
Musée des Confluences (Lyon) is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are Centre Pompidou and Musée d'Orsay. Direct peers are Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, Musée de Grenoble, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Musée des Augustins (Toulouse), Musée Fabre (Montpellier), Petit Palais (Paris) and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.
Does Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon have an API?
No public API is recorded for Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
What industry is Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in?
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon's product category is Fine Arts Museum. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJADAA, Art Museums, with a secondary code of THAJADAH, Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit). Its NAICS code is 71211 and its SIC code is 7900.