Founded in 1801, the Fine Arts Museum of Lyon is housed within the walls of the majestic Benedictine abbey of the ‘Dames nobles de Saint-Pierre’, which was built in the second half of the 17th century. A four-sided construction, the museum surrounds cloisters and a peaceful gardenfeaturing sculptures by Rodin, Bourdelle and others. The 7 000 m² museum has 70 exhibition rooms which are home to outstanding collections of antique art from Egypt, the Near and Middle East to Greece and Rome, art objects from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, coins and medals from Antiquity to the present day, sculptures by Chinard, Canova, Pradier andothers as well as graphic arts and classical paintings, including works by Perugino, Veronese, Rubens and Rembrandt, impressionists such as Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin, and modernists, mostnotably Picasso, Chagall, Matisse and Soulages. The Fine Arts museum of Lyon organises major international exhibitions throughout the year as well as cultural activities for all publics.