The Benedictine Palace
History
The Benedictine Palace is in Fécamp, on Normandy's Alabaster Coast, set at the foot of the cliffs which look over the English Channel. The building is a subtle blend of extravagance and sobriety, and its daring design and originality cannot fail to amaze. Its founder, Alexandre Le Grand, wanted this place to be a hybrid in which art and industry could be as one. This is the reason why the Palace is both the production site for the Benedictine liqueur and a well renowned museum with a large collection of art from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries and which regularly hosts modern art exhibitions. The Palace, designed by architect Camille Albert, was first inaugurated in 1888. It was destroyed by a fire four years later and immediately rebuilt in the form we see today, the eclectic blend of Gothic and renaissance art.
Alexandre Le Grand Hall
This hall shows the ideas that the company's founder had for the promotion of Benedictine
- The registered trademark: the pyramid of counterfeits presents over 200 imitations (use of the name, of the shape of the bottle…)
- The Benedictine Palace: A scale model built for the World Fair of 1900.
- Advertising: Alexandre Le Grand was the first in his field to use advertising. The greatest artists of the time are among those who designed the posters: Mucha, Sem, Lopes, Silva…
Contemporary area
The contemporary area, which stands at the heart of
the Palace, was inaugurated in 1988 by an exhibition
of Juan Miro works. Since then, there have been
over sixty exhibitions presenting the works of artists
as important as Braque, Buffet, Calder, César,
De Kooning, Dubuffet, Niki de Saint Phalle and
Warhol, among others.
The
art
museum
The Benedictine
Museum allows visitors to discover the works of art that Alexandre
Le Grand collected throughout his life. From the remains of Fécamp
Abbey to the fruits of the collector's travels, there is a full
range of art form the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, with statuettes,
paintings and sculptures… Over 150,000 visitors come each year.
The museum owns a great
many 15th and 17th century sculptures which depict scenes of Christian
martyrdom or the lives of the Saints carved in wood, marble or stone.
Also on display are 15th century
English alabaster sculptures of scenes from the New Testament..
Like the sculptures and paintings here, the ivories are generally inspired
by Christian
iconography. Biblical scenes, diptychs and statues: ivory can be worked
like lace…
Discover the secret of how Benedictine is made by visiting the distillery, as well as the storerooms in the Palace basement where the liquor is allowed to age in the many casks and barrels.
