--- title: "Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després: How to Visit and What to See" description: "The Musée de l'Avallonnais Jean Després occupies the town's former school, beside the clock tower in the old centre of Avallon." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-de-l-avallonnais lang: en updated: 2026-10-08 generated: 2026-10-08 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/things-to-do/musee-de-l-avallonnais.png --- # Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després > Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després: Avallon's free town museum, from local archaeology to the Art Deco silver of Jean Després and a rare Yao collection. Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després is in Avallon (Yonne), 1 h 22 by road (113 km) from Beaune. Opening hours: 7 February to 8 March: Saturday and Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00; 4 April to 27 September and 17 October to 1 November: Wednesday to Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00 · Admission: Free entry · Allow 1 hour · Private driver from Beaune: €295 one way for the whole car, up to 4 guests. The Musée de l'Avallonnais Jean Després occupies the town's former school, beside the clock tower in the old centre of Avallon. Its rooms run from the archaeology of the Avallon area to paintings, sculpture and the jewellery and silverware of the goldsmith Jean Després. Entry is free. ## Key facts - Type: Museums - Where: Avallon · Yonne - Location: 85 km north-west of Beaune · Yonne - Coordinates: 47.4868, 3.9065 - 1 h 22 from Beaune - Open 7 February to 1 November - Allow 1 hour - Official website: [musee.ville-avallon.fr](https://musee.ville-avallon.fr/) - From Beaune: ≈ 1 h 22 · 113 km - €295 one way from Beaune with a [private driver](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver) ## Getting there - [Private driver from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver): 1 h 22 by road (113 km), €295 one way for the whole car. Coming by train or plane? [Transfers from stations and airports](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers) Estimates per vehicle for up to 4 guests, tolls included. Your price is confirmed when you book. ## History The Société d'Études d'Avallon, a society of local scholars, founded the museum in 1862 and first set it up in the upper room of the Tour de l'Horloge. Gifts from collectors built up the collections, among them the coins gathered by the teacher Alfred Bardin, which today form a set of nearly 24,000 coins and medals. In 1912 the museum moved with the town hall to the Hôtel de Gouvenain, and in 1946 it became a municipal museum. In 1971 the collections moved into the old collège, where generations of Avallon pupils had studied. The museum received the Musée de France label in 2002. In 2011 seven new rooms opened for a collection of about 2,500 objects from the Yao Mien and Yao Mun peoples of southern China and South-East Asia, given to the museum in 2008. In 2017 it added to its name that of Jean Després, the goldsmith who lived and worked in Avallon until his death in 1980. ## What you will see The archaeology room follows people in the Avallon area from the Palaeolithic to the Merovingian period, with stone tools, Bronze Age ornaments, an Iron Age armlet found at Noyers and a pair of bird-shaped Merovingian brooches set with garnets. The fine arts rooms show paintings, drawings, prints and about a hundred 19th- and 20th-century sculptures, by artists such as Pierre Vigoureux and Georges Loiseau-Bailly. One room is given to Jean Després, whose pewter and silver pieces draw on modernism and Art Deco. The Yao rooms show embroidered textiles, silver jewellery and objects of Yao Taoism. ## Opening hours and tickets - Opening hours: - 7 February to 8 March: Saturday and Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00 - 4 April to 27 September and 17 October to 1 November: Wednesday to Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00 - Closed: 1 May - Admission: Free entry - Booking: Not needed Checked on 8 October 2026 on [the official site](https://musee.ville-avallon.fr/infos-pratiques/). ## Planning your visit Allow about an hour. The museum is in the historic centre of Avallon, about 1 hour 15 minutes from Beaune, with one entrance on rue du Collège and another from the Jacques Schiever garden, on either side of the clock tower. Entry is free. It opens on Wednesday to Sunday afternoons in season, and closes for several weeks in spring, in early autumn and in winter, so check the calendar before you go. Only the ground-floor rooms are accessible to wheelchair users. ## Did you know? Jean Després began an apprenticeship with a Paris goldsmith at 14 and spent his evenings at the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, where Georges Braque became his closest friend. ## Around Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després What to combine with Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després on the same day, nearest first. ### Châteaux - [Château de Vault-de-Lugny](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-vault-de-lugny) (4 km away): A moated castle with a tall square keep near Avallon, now an intimate five-star hotel. - [Château de Chastellux](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-chastellux) (11 km away): A towered fortress at the gateway to the Morvan, still lived in by the family of its name. - [Château de Bazoches](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-bazoches) (14 km away): The castle Vauban bought with a royal reward, and turned into a workshop for his military engineers. ### Things to do - [Avallon](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/avallon) (1 km away): A walled town on a granite spur above the Cousin valley, with Romanesque portals and a clock tower. - [Collégiale Saint-Lazare d’Avallon](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/collegiale-saint-lazare-avallon) (1 km away): A pilgrimage church whose 12th-century portals carry some of the richest Romanesque carving in Burgundy. - [Musée du Costume](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-du-costume-avallon) (1 km away): A new exhibition of period clothes every year, in the rooms of a town house once owned by the princes of Condé. ### Restaurants - [Le Valucien](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/le-valucien-vault-de-lugny) (4 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): A starred table with Mauritian accents inside a moated castle near Avallon. ## Questions about Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després ### How far is Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després from Beaune? Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després is about 1 h 22 from Beaune by road (113 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €295 for the whole car, up to 4 guests. ### How long does a visit to Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després take? For the visit, allow 1 hour. ### When is Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després open? Opening days and times change during the year, so check the official website (musee.ville-avallon.fr) before you go. Your driver can plan the day around them. ### Can a private driver take us to Musée de l’Avallonnais Jean Després? Yes. Your driver collects you in Beaune or at your hotel in an electric Polestar 2 (up to 4 guests), waits while you visit and plans the rest of the day with you. The driver speaks English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic. → [Private driver from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver) ## Book - [Book a driver here](https://www.cote-privee.com/book?service=driver&place=sight:avallonnais): €295 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests ## Sources - - - - - - - --- Canonical page: