musée Alfred-Canel
Located in the city center, this private dwelling from the 17th century was redesigned in the 19th as a public building designed to the glory of its donor Alfred Canel (1803-1879).
A whole life of work and reflection has enabled him to constitute and design for the greatest number, an old library collection and a museum.
The reputed library collection includes 20,000 books, documents and manuscripts, a large proportion of which concern Normandy. They are distributed in their original furniture.
The museum, born in 1876 to "moralize through education, charm through the arts and educate through the sciences" according to a patriotic formula of the time, presents itself as an amateur's cabinet, lit by an overhead light. There are paintings, sculptures, beetles, archaeological pieces and botanical specimens.
Declared untouchable by the architect responsible for its rehabilitation, this part of the house has been increased by a contemporary part, in the manner of an industrial addition. The space is reserved for temporary exhibitions.