Dubois-Boucher annex
On 18 March 1899, the local town council approved the acquisition of the so-called “Old Château” property, with a view to enlarging the adjacent school. This private property included the château, a spacious edifice recently erected on a vast estate capable of serving as a public garden, as well as a shed and an artisans’ building opening onto the Rue de la Pêcherie.
Three years later, a museum was created on the ground floor of the château upon the initiative of the sculptor Alfred Boucher (1850-1934), who desired to provide the inhabitants of Nogent-sur-Seine the museum that he himself had lacked during his youth. In 1903, with new donations by Alfred Boucher and his friends necessitating additional exhibition spaces, the municipality accordingly renovated the first floor of the château, which also welcomed the new municipal library. Finally, in 1905, the architect Charles Poirée oversaw the transformation of the old shed bordering the Rue de la Pêcherie, thereby allowing for the installation of monumental works, notably the model for the Joan of Arc equestrian statue that Paul Dubois had promised to acquire on the day of the museum’s inaugural ceremony.
Following the war, the museum was briefly reopened, before the building was transformed into a school. In 1974, it once again became a museum, presenting the discoveries made during local digs overseen by the archaeologist André Lemoine. In 1978, a heritage curator was recruited and the municipality launched a renovation of the buildings and a restoration of the collections. The new gallery of sculptures was inaugurated in 1995.
Today, the sculpture collections have been transformed into the Musée Camille Claudel. A project remains to open the Dubois-Boucher Annexe to the public, in full accordance with current accessibility and reception standards, so as to showcase the entirety of the collections belonging to the Nogent-sur-Seine Museum.
