Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

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').

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

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

• Fine arts museum
• Art exhibitions
• Cultural heritage
• Museum collections
• Art education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Admission fees for exhibitions and permanent collections, with free entry periods during special circumstances (extreme weather)
2. Membership Programs: Annual membership programs including Club du musée Saint-Pierre, Cercle Poussin, and Amis du musée (Friends of the Museum)
3. Corporate Sponsorship: Business sponsorship program (Entreprises mécènes de projets) for companies to support specific museum projects
4. Restaurant and Tea Room: On-site café/restaurant service operating within the museum
5. Museum Store/Boutique: Gift shop selling books, catalogs, art-related merchandise, and publications
6. Image Rights and Reproduction: Sale of high-definition digital images for print, catalogues, and publications through the Images department
7. Publications and Catalogues: Sale of exhibition catalogs and educational publications (prices ranging from 19€ to 45€)
8. Venue Rental: Corporate event hosting services (Recevoir au musée) for private events in museum spaces

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core 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.

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Google Arts & CulturecoreTechnology or IntegrationDigital 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 dehorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSummer concert series partnership bringing live music events to the museum garden. Annual program featuring Thursday evening concerts during summer months.
• Musée national Picasso-ParisflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration for the exhibition 'Picasso. Baigneuses et baigneurs' (July 2020 - January 2021), with curatorial support from Sylvie Ramond and Émilie Bouvard.
• Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, VeniceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting partner for the Picasso exhibition collaboration.
• Cinéma Lumière TerreauxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for coupled visits program 'Kino, du cinéma au musée' combining film screenings with museum visits exploring connections between cinema and visual arts.
• Conservatoire de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMusic partnership for 'Musique en scène' program featuring student performances at the museum auditorium paired with collection visits.
• Ville de Lyon (City of Lyon)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent 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, MexicominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational collaboration for the exhibition 'Los Modernos Dialogues France/Mexique' (2017-2018) with Museo Nacional de Arte.
• Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du CaireminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for Egyptian antiquities documentation and research.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional 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

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/musee-des-beaux-arts-de-lyon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon