Paul Arbaud Museum and Library

Paul Arbaud, a scholar, devoted his life to constituting a large collection of objects and books, remarkable in terms of both their quantity and their quality. On his death, he left not only this collection, but also the mansion which housed it, to the Academy of Sciences, Agriculture, Arts and Letters of Aix-en-Provence.

The collection of objects is made up of some wonderful pieces, notably 18th century Provençal earthenware, a 14th century Flemish triptych and Mirabeau family portraits.

The library, with its 1600 manuscripts and books and its collection of private archives (notably those of the Mirabeau family) attracts researchers from a variety of different fields.

Since it opened, the museum-library has received numerous donations which have enabled it to expand its collections, such as that of Lucas de Montigny, who bequeathed a large collection of items related to the Mirabeau family.