museum of art and history of the Jura (collection)

The Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire (MJAH) is a museum of art and public history institution in Delémont, the capital of the Canton of Jura, Switzerland. Founded in 1909, it serves as the principal custodian of the cultural memory of the Jura regions that once formed the Prince-Bishopric of Basel. The museum holds national cultural heritage status and operates as a foundation jointly constituted by the cantons of Jura and Bern, along with the municipal and bourgeois communities of Delémont. Its collections and exhibitions address the cultural, social, political, and economic history of the Jura region, making it a significant center for regional identity and historical education in western Switzerland.

The museum was founded in 1909 by Abbot Arthur Daucourt, a historian who had retired to the area in 1905 and was deeply committed to regional culture. Daucourt established the institution originally as the Musée jurassien with the express purpose of strengthening and reviving love of the region in children's hearts. A commission was formed under his leadership, and the first objects, including church treasures, were gathered at Delémont Castle in 1910. Initially housed within the Collège de Delémont, the museum moved to its own quarters at Maison Bennot in 1922, though the Dutch source indicates the museum opened its doors in 1922 with the municipality providing the building. The museum commission received legal status only in 1953 with the creation of the Fondation du Musée jurassien, which originally included the city of Delémont, its citizens, and the canton of Bern to which Jura then belonged. When the Canton of Jura was established in 1979, it gained representation in the foundation. The institution received its current name, Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire, in 1986, though the English source suggests the name change accompanied the 1979 cantonal creation. The museum closed for restoration from 1996 to 1999, underwent a complete restoration in 2011, and since 2017 has been a member of Forum Culture, the federal association of cultural actors in the Bernese Jura, Canton of Jura, and Biel regions.

The collections feature significant material from the Prince-Bishopric of Basel period, including church treasures, religious objects, historical documents, old weapons, military medals, paintings, busts, and household items from that era. Among the museum's documented exhibition activities, a 2005 retrospective honored sculptor and engraver Laurent Boillat on the twentieth anniversary of his death. In 2010, the museum presented a major exhibition of local surrealist painter and sculptor Gérard Bregnard. In summer 2018, it hosted a comparative exhibition titled in the spirit of then-and-now, juxtaposing nineteenth-century photography of the Jura region by Édouard Quiquerez with contemporary images by Pierre Montavon.

The museum occupies five contiguous historic buildings that form part of an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architectural ensemble. These structures abut the old fortress walls of Delémont. The buildings are listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural heritage of national and regional importance, and the museum complex as a whole is classified as a cultural property of national importance. The English Wikipedia associates the museum with the Tour Rouge building, while the French and Dutch sources emphasize the five connected structures. The twenty-one exhibition rooms and the temporary exhibition space are distributed across these historic buildings, which were restored in the late 1990s and again comprehensively in 2011.

The Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire is located in Delémont, the capital of the Canton of Jura in northwestern Switzerland. The museum operates as a foundation (Fondation du Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire) with governance shared among the cantons of Jura and Bern and the municipal and bourgeois communities of Delémont. Its website is https://www.mjah.ch. Since 2017, the museum has been a member of Forum Culture, the federal association linking cultural institutions across the Bernese Jura, Canton of Jura, and Biel regions. The museum's national heritage classification and its role as the primary repository of Jura regional memory position it as a central institution for both residents and visitors seeking to understand the distinct cultural and historical identity of this Swiss canton.