Musée historique de Haguenau

The Musée historique de Haguenau is a history, art, and archaeological museum located in Haguenau, in the Bas-Rhin department of the Grand Est region in northeastern France. Established in 1900 and inaugurated in 1905, it is one of three museums in the city. Despite its name, the institution functions equally as an art museum and a history museum, holding regionally significant collections that span from prehistory to the modern era. Its holdings are particularly strong in archaeology, late medieval sculpture, and decorative arts, with the museum serving as a principal repository for the cultural heritage of Haguenau and the surrounding region.

The museum was founded by Xavier Nessel (1834-1918), who served as mayor of Haguenau and was also a passionate amateur archaeologist. The first municipal collections had been assembled from the mid-19th century onward, encompassing numismatics, archaeology, decorative arts, and folk traditions. Nessel's personal excavations in the Haguenau Forest, particularly at the Seltzer burial mounds, formed a core of the archaeological holdings. His excavation notebooks, containing descriptions, plans, and sketches, were later synthesized by archaeologist Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer with assistance from abbé Gromer, resulting in two publications: Histoire de pierre néolithiques du musée de Haguenau (1926) on the Bronze Age, and Les Tertres funéraires préhistoriques de la forêt de Haguenau (1930) on the Iron Age. In 1972, the ethnographic and folk art collections relating to Alsace were transferred to the newly established Musée alsacien nearby due to space constraints. The municipal library has since moved out, leaving only the city archives in the same building as the museum.

The collection is organized across three levels: the basement houses prehistory and early history, including Celtic, Gallo-Roman, and Merovingian material; the ground floor covers the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Thirty Years' War; and the upper floor addresses more recent periods. The archaeological collections are especially renowned, with the CNRS researcher Gilles Gaucher describing the Bronze and Iron Age objects as exceptional. These include Mesolithic flint tools, Neolithic polished stone axes, and reconstructions of Bronze burial mounds excavated by Nessel. The museum preserves the memory of numerous destroyed buildings from Haguenau, including Frederick Barbarossa's imperial palace. Its late medieval sculpture (approximately 1400-1550) comprises wood and stone carvings from demolished churches, monasteries, chapels, and secular buildings. The decorative arts collections feature Strasbourg faience by the Hannong family, Art Nouveau glassware and ceramics, and early modern glazed ceramics. The museum also holds materials related to Jewish history and military history, including uniforms, insignia, and weapons.

Among the signature works is a self-portrait by Friedrich Hammer dated 1542. The Art Nouveau collection was substantially enriched in 2014 by a bequest from the Henninger couple of Haguenau, comprising 81 works by Émile Gallé, Daum, Lalique, Herborth, and others, together with a cabinet by Louis Majorelle, with a total value at that time of €357,600. The archaeological holdings include a Jupiter-Taranis statue, statuettes of Neptune-Rhenus, the Seltz bronze tableware treasure, and Merovingian weapons and jewelry from the 8th century. Other notable items include artifacts from the Roman period, a small Judaica collection, and Xavier Nessel's personal automobile, a Maurer double phaeton from 1905. Interior features include a statue of Herrad of Landsberg by Charles Albert Schultz, frescoes of Haguenau's city gates by Auguste Spinner, and heraldic stained glass by Auguste Schüler, including a window depicting the judgment of Richard the Lionheart by Henry VI in 1193, based on a drawing by Léo Schnug.

The museum building was constructed between 1900 and 1905 to designs by the Strasbourg architectural partnership of Joseph Müller (1863, ?) and Richard Kuder (1852-1912), who also designed the Strassburger Sängerhaus. The structure was originally intended to accommodate the municipal collections, city archives, and municipal library. The exterior displays a richly detailed neoTOKstyle combining Neo-Renaissance with elements of Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau. The entrance pediment indicates its original triple function. Exterior sculptures include a figure of Frederick Barbarossa by Charles Albert Schultz at the corner of the entrance, and ceramics by Charles Bastian based on drawings by Léo Schnug, including The Emperor's Court and the workshop of the copyist Diebold Lauber. The wrought ironwork for the gates and window grilles was designed by Karl Weiss of Karlsruhe and executed by Wilhelm Ehrardt of Haguenau. Contemporary buildings by the same architects that share stylistic features include the Villa Mathy (1903) and the Palatia student corporation building (1902) in Strasbourg.

The Musée historique de Haguenau is owned by the municipality and located in the city of Haguenau. It operates under the authority of the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace since regional reorganization on 1 January 2021, within the Grand Est region. The museum maintains a website at ville-haguenau.fr. Its present role combines the functions of a city history museum, art museum, and archaeological repository, serving both local and regional audiences with collections that document the cultural heritage of Haguenau from prehistory through the modern period.