Musée des Arts décoratifs de Strasbourg

The Musée des Arts décoratifs de Strasbourg is a museum of decorative arts located on the ground floor of the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, France. It occupies the former city palace of the Prince-Bishops from the Rohan family, one of the most significant aristocratic residences in Alsace. The museum matters as a dual-purpose institution: it preserves and displays the sumptuous ceremonial apartments of the Prince-Bishops in late baroque, Rococo and Empire styles, while also offering a comprehensive survey of Alsatian decorative arts from 1681 to 1870. Its collections trace the golden age of Strasbourg craftsmanship, particularly in porcelain and metalwork, during the city's first period of French rule.

The museum traces its origins to the Hohenlohe-Museum, founded in 1890 by Wilhelm von Bode, the influential German art historian and museum curator. This collection was transferred to the Palais Rohan in 1898, establishing the museum in its present location. The palace itself suffered severe damage from English and American bombing on 11 August 1944. The chambers of the Prince-Bishops were subsequently restored little by little to their original condition, a process that continued up until the 1990s, with the interior furnishings rebuilt to match their pre-war appearance. The apartments had also been damaged during bombardments in 187,0 and the later restoration aimed to return them to their state before both periods of destruction.

The museum divides into two distinct halves. The first comprises the reconstructed apartments of the cardinals of Rohan, reconstituted to appear as they did before the 1870 and 1944 bombardments. These chambers display the traditional furnishings of courtly display rooms, including Gobelins tapestries, chinoiserie, wood carvings, murals, stucco decorations and trompe-l'œil, all executed with high technical and artistic skill in Rococo and, for certain rooms, First Empire styles. The second half presents the decorative arts collections of Strasbourg from the first French period, spanning 1681 to 1871. Decorative arts from before the French conquest are displayed in the nearby Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame. The decorative arts collections are housed in the former stable wing of the Palais Rohan.

The decorative arts collections feature particularly substantial holdings of faience from the Strasbourg factory of the brothers Jean and Paul Hannong, who also founded and directed the celebrated Frankenthal Porcelain Factory. The museum also displays pieces from the Niderviller faience factory. In metalwork, it holds significant works by the Strasbourg master goldsmith and silversmith families of Kirstein and Imlin, whose productions exemplify the city's eighteenth-century artisanal excellence. The salle d'horlogerie (room 14) contains components of the first astronomical clock of Strasbourg Cathedral, built around 1350, including the celebrated cock automaton, regarded as the oldest surviving automaton in the world.

The museum occupies the ground floor of the Palais Rohan, the former city palace of the Prince-Bishops from the Rohan family. This aristocratic residence served as the stadtpalace for the Prince-Bishops and stands as one of the most important baroque palaces in Alsace. The museum utilises both the main ceremonial apartments and the former stable wing of the palace. The apartments retain their spectacular decorative schemes, including stuccowork, frescoes, tapestries and period furnishings that demonstrate the wealth and cultural ambitions of the Rohan prelates. The palace complex dominates the historic centre of Strasbourg near the cathedral.

The Musée des Arts décoratifs is located in the Palais Rohan in central Strasbourg, France. It operates as part of the municipal museum network of Strasbourg, with official information available through the city's museum website. The museum's specific location on the ground floor of the palace makes it accessible alongside the other historic institutions housed in the Palais Rohan complex. Its present role combines the functions of a historic house museum, preserving the reconstructed world of the Prince-Bishops, with that of a regional decorative arts museum documenting Alsatian craftsmanship across two centuries of French rule.