The BnF Museum collections
Some of the collections’ treasures
Neck-amphora, Heracles battles the three-bodied giant Geryon Close
Neck-amphora, Heracles battles the three-bodied giant Geryon, circa 530 BC.
Attributed to the Inscription Painter Rhegion (Italy). Found in Vulci (Italy) in 1828-1829. Terra cotta, Black-figure painting, Donated by Luynes in 1862
BnF, Department of Coins, Medals and AntiquesFound in an Etruscan tomb and dated circa 540-530 BC, this coloured amphora is a major work by the Inscription Painter – all the characters are named – whose workshop in southern Italy enjoyed great success in the West.
One of Heracles’ lesser known labours has him confronting the three-bodied giant Geryon who ruled over the island of Erythia, at the western limits of the world. With three bodies but only one pair of wings and one pair of legs, Geryon defends his herd of oxen, the subject of the dispute. The goddess Athena protects the hero, who wears a lion’s skin on his head and has already slaughtered the herdsman and his dog.
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The Great Cameo of France Close
The Great Cameo of France, circa 23 AD.
Rome, circa 23 AD. Five-layered sardonyx cameo; H 31 cm, L 26.5 cm
BnF, Department of Coins, Medals and AntiquesThe Great Cameo of France, a major piece from the Sainte-Chapelle Treasury created in the 13th century by King Saint Louis IX around the relics of the Passion of Christ, is the largest cameo that Antiquity has bequeathed us. It is also the most famous example of Roman glyptic art (the art of engraving on fine stone).
Despite its tumultuous history, the cameo has always been highly prized and so preserved. Pledged by Philip VI to Pope Clement VI in 1343 and returned to the Sainte-Chapelle by Charles V in 1379, it was transferred to the Cabinet des Médailles on 1 May 1791, on Louis XVI’s orders. Stolen in 1804, it was found in Amsterdam, without its gold frame (which had been melted down), and returned to the Cabinet des Médailles in February 1805.
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Berthouville Treasure Close
Berthouville Treasure, 1st–3rdcentury
Overview of the treasury, Italy and Gaul, between the 1st and early 3rd century AD. Silver, gilt silver
BnF, Department of Coins, Medals and AntiquesDiscovered in 1830 by a Norman farmer who was ploughing his field, it comes from a Gallo-Roman shrine dedicated to Mercury. It contains masterpieces of Roman and Gallo-Roman silverware dating from the 1st to the 3rd century and offered to the god, with a total weight of over 25 kg of pure silver: two statuettes of Mercury, a richly decorated drinking set, cups, vials, goblets, spoons and other artefacts…
The Berthouville Treasure has been on display in the Library’s Cabinet des Médailles since June 1830, and is one of its showpieces.
View this object in the Medals and Antiques’ catalogue
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The 120 Days of Sodom Close
The 120 Days of Sodom by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, 1785
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1815), The 120 Days of Sodom, Paris, 1785. Handwritten manuscript
BnF, Arsenal LibraryThe manuscript scroll of the 120 Days of Sodom, written by Sade during his imprisonment in the Bastille, is an inherently revolutionary work. Sade was first and foremost a victim of the royal capriciousness and absolutism finally done away with on 14 July 1789. He was not simply a contemporary of the French Revolution: his writings made him an actor in it. In the 19th century, science turned its attention to this disturbing work. Sade’s name came to label a sexual perversion, a mental illness. He became a subject of study under the scientific revolution that drew the border between normal and pathological, so marking the emergence of the human sciences. Rediscovered by the 20th-century avant-garde, Sade was no longer viewed as a monster beyond the social pale but integrated into the aesthetic and political revolution at the heart of modernity. The very embodiment of transgression and creative freedom, he inspired writers and artists.
In his Bastille cell, Sade spent 38 evenings copying out (but never completing) the work he had first conceived in Vincennes: 33 sheets, each 11.3 cm wide, glued end-to-end to form a strip 11.88 metres long, covered on both sides with microscopic writing between two margins. Difficult to read, easy to conceal once it was rolled up, the work has had a storied history: never given a title by Sade, stolen, hidden away for a century, then sold and exhibited as the last word in sexual deviations before becoming a surrealist totem, stolen once again and then raised to the rank of National Treasure, it finally made its way back into the “Bastille collection” conserved at the Arsenal Library from which it had been snatched.
National Treasure acquired thanks to Emmanuel Boussard’s sponsorship
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“Europes en partage” (Sharing Europes): The BnF museum’s new annual theme
Each year, the gallery hosts a new thematic presentation, allowing to discover a curated selection of the Library’s treasures in an historical perspective.
The fourth presentation, « Europes en partage » (13 September 2025 – 6 September 2026) invites visitors to explore key moments that have shaped Europe, from the 9th century to nowadays, through a remarkable selection of around 150 standout items from the BnF’s collections.
Masterpieces of Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic art (9th to 14th centuries)
Illuminated manuscripts, such as the sumptuous Theodulphe Bible, a masterpiece of Carolingian art, and Byzantine ivories repurposed in bindings, tell us about the role of the Church and monastic networks in shaping a common culture.
The breviary used in the Sainte-Chapelle, originating from the «library» of Charles V (1338-1380) which entered the Library through a national subscription in 2024, illustrates the importance of royal collections in this luxurious production.
Europe in motion (15th-17th centuries)
The invention of printing, notably represented by a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the emergence of the artist’s figure during the Renaissance, as shown by watercolour drawings of Dürer (1471-1528), and the prosperity of the Netherlands in the 17th century, illustrated by engravings of Rembrandt, suggest the constant cultural evolution of Europe throughout modern times, that the astonishing map by Nicolas-Joannis Visscher representing Flanders and the Netherlands in the shape of a lion illustrates perfectly.
The taste for flowers and gardens in Europe (17th century)
In the 17th century, the botanical plates in the famous Nassau-Idstein Florilegium, the gardening treatises of
Jacques Boyceau, the King’s gardener, and the floral collections of Daniel Rabel recall the rise of a civilisation in which botany and garden art became shared passions across Europe.
From Europe of the Age of Enlightenment to Romantic Europe: The Circulation of Knowledge (18th-19th centuries)
Montesquieu’s manuscripts (De l’esprit des lois), the great undertaking of the Encyclopédie, and Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables bear witness to the political and social commitment that transformed the continent right up to the revolutionary movements of the 19th century. The music sheet of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and the romantic fervour of Beethoven’s scores (Piano Sonata No.23, known as the Appassionata) reflect the eminent place of music in the European cultural stage.
Modern and contemporary Europe (19th-20th centuries)
The journey ends with the first advertising posters (Mucha’s posters), emblematic figures of both the artistic avant-garde (Sonia Delaunay) and science (Marie Curie) who came to France from Eastern Europe, and the emergence of the cultural industries and of the record (Piaf’s little black dress), as well as the women’s emancipation movement (Simone de Beauvoir), bearers of a new European order after the upheavals of the Second World War.
Items made of paper are particularly sensitive to light. For preservation purposes, the exhibited pieces will be renewed in January and May 2026. Each visit offers thus the possibility to discover new treasures.
Practical information
Opening times
Tuesday (late-night opening): 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Wednesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays and select bank holidays*
The Museum is open on 8 May, Ascension Thursday, and 1 and 11 November.
* The Museum is closed on 1 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, Whit Monday, 14 July, 15 August and 25 December
Please note: due to the fragility of certain artworks, some pieces on display in the Mazarin Gallery and Rotunda are rotated every four months, showcasing the breadth of the BnF’s collections. These spaces are closed to the public while the pieces are rotated.
Mazarin Gallery closing dates: From Monday 1 to Thursday 11 september 2025 included and from Monday 12 to Thursday 22 january 2026 included
Rotunda closing dates: From Monday 6 to Friday 12 October 2025 included and from Monday 23 March to Friday 3 April 2026 included
Access
Site Richelieu
5, rue Vivienne
75002 PARIS
Group activities
Reservation obligatory at visites@bnf.fr or on 01 53 79 49 49 (from Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm)
Rates
During the Mazarin Gallery’s closure period, individual tickets are only available at ticket offices and Museum admission rates are lowered to 7 € (full rate), 5 € (reduced rate), 10 € (full rate coupled with an exhibition) and 7 € (reduced rate coupled with an exhibition).
Guided tours of the BnF’s Museum – Reservation
