The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon

On July 18th, 2013, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. It was absolutely gorgeous and very, very large. Like many of the other museums in Lyon, this one consisted of four floors and multiple rooms all depicting the artwork of different eras and different nations. This was museum was very different to the Museum of Miniatures because of the size of most of the pieces, as well as how famous some of the pieces were. In the other museum I could glance at many of the pieces and keep on walking, but in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon you are forced to really look at the paintings and pieces due to the detail and the grandness of it all. I truly enjoyed this museum. 

I would say that the most interesting rooms for me was the room filled with sculptures of the 19th century, the Egyptian display filled with slabs of stone in hieroglyphics and tombs, and the rooms with artwork depicting Jesus, or more popular stories of the bible. To me it is absolutely beautiful how these artists portray Jesus, the saints and the Virgin Mary in a manner or style they thought Jesus was. I would have added significantly more pictures of the artwork depicting Jesus and biblical stories, but I realized I already had many below.

Please excuse the lack of description, title's and artists for paintings. I was meant to blog about this when I still remembered the pieces. I guess the biggest recurring mistake I make is, "It's totally fine, I'll remember that later", and then I never do. So enjoy the image with knowing the title or the artist. Je suis tres desole!

This museum along with various other buildings in Lyon have very beautiful and decorative exteriors.

The garden outside the museum.

I still don't quite understand the French obsession with nudity, both male and female...

My friends and I were quite excited to be checking out the museum :)!

While waiting for our tickets, we were treated to this..

It still dazzles me how artists paint murals on ceilings or that are the size of a wall with so much detail and precision.

Instead of tour guides we had these devices which, when you input a number corresponding to the piece of art, it gives you the history to the item. It was really quite cool, but rather funny-looking, haha. 

This was a cool looking mini statue of liberty, not too sure who created it.

This reminded me of the old testament in Bible where people had to sacrifice animals or give their best products to God in order to be forgiven for their sins, versus in the new testament where Jesus has died for our sins, so we don't sacrifice anymore. 

These statues were absolutely massive. Again, how do the artists make them so precise and detailed?!

This just creeped me out a little, but looked interesting at the same time.

Please excuse the extreme nudity. 

This statue was about three times my size. Quite intimidating.

This material must have been very difficult to work with, but still it is absolutely gorgeous. 

I believe this is what the tombs used to look like for the ancient Egyptian royals. 

A sole picture cannot capture the beauty in the decoration of these.

The museums has various slabs of stone with Hieroglyphics on them. Very beautiful.

This wall was probably 3 meters in height.

I don't quite remember, but I think this slab was of the ancient Greeks... I may be wrong.

I think this was Greek pottery, but I am not too sure. 

Ancient armor. I wonder if it actually protected the soldiers? It just looks like a carved tin can...

I really wouldn't mind having this mirror in my house, haha. So much marble and detail.

I just loved the detail in this piece and how it portrayed various stories in just one.

The Virgin Mary.

Saints Barbe, Madeline and Catherine.

There were so many different interpretations of Jesus, I was really enjoying looking at it.

This was probably my favorite because in this I could almost feel the emotion being portrayed on mother Marys' and Jesus' face.

This armor found in the Middle Eastern section was really interesting and beautiful.

This piece was on a background like a painting, but then it was a sculpture coming out at you. It was very beautiful. 

I wonder what it would feel like to be in one of these suits...

I believe this covered all the saints and Jesus at the very top.

This was a very pretty interpretation of Mother Mary and Jesus.

This was a magnificently large door, which I found interesting because most of the doors and doorways I have seen are absolutely miniscule. Very beautiful.

I am actually obsessed with furniture, especially of the early 1900's, so I found this beautiful.

This was part of the bedroom set. The furniture is just so smooth and beautiful.

This was probably the most breath-taking piece in the whole museum. Ten people, if not more, could probably fit on the painting laying down. The detail on this was amazing. I almost wish I could go into the head of the painter, or watch him paint this. 

These were the lining the top of the building. I hadn't noticed until I was exiting the building.

I really wouldn't mind living in this museum...