Maubeuge (North). Closed since 1993, the Henri-Boëz Museum in Maubeuge is integrated into the House of Culture project which will take place in the old CPAM and CAF building in the city center. This museum of fine arts, archeology and ethnology, which obtained the label “Musée de France” in 2002, had several lives: it opened in 1914 just before the war but was bombed the same year, losing part of its collections of paintings and sculptures. He gradually reopened between 1926 and 1936 and then moved in the canons chapter after 1945. In 2023, the municipality opened a temporary space to exhibit “About ten percent of the collections”, According to Nicolas Leblanc, culture assistant. The project adopted by the Municipal Council at the end of March confirms the idea of including this museum and the pre -existing media library in a single building to constitute a cultural pole whose surface would be around 5,500 square meters on four levels.
Facilitate access to culture for the population of the entire agglomeration
If the establishment project is already written, certain aspects are led to evolve, thus the name of the place : “The initial name” House of Culture and Education “has been replaced by” Maison de la Culture “, and the place will probably be renamed”, specifies Nicolas Leblanc. This double identity structure could also host “A third place”, Term that the culture assistant considers a little vague. It is above all a question of affirming that the place will be open to the city and the agglomeration, a claim carried out by the municipality: “The choice of the CPAM-CAF building is justified by its position near the station in the city center, which will allow access to the population of the whole agglomeration and not only of Maubeuge. »» The building chosen is indeed distinguished by a remarkable architecture, created by the architect and urban planner André Lurçat between 1961 and 1964, craftsman of the reconstruction of the city center. It has been registered as historic monuments since November 2024, an essential step before its restoration and development. Nicolas Leblanc evokes “Opening on audiences” that the building with large windows allows, with a “Horizontality” architectural and symbolic: “We want to facilitate access to culture, and attract audiences that go to the media library but not to the museum. »»
In the joint establishment project, the reflection of the municipal team relates to the undersizing of the media library for a city of 30,000 inhabitants, and on the failure of the museum to “The mission of a museum of France (who is) to make its collections accessible ». It is also specified that reading and visiting exhibitions are now evolving “In a strong competitive context” in the leisure sector. The project therefore plans to create “Synergies” To stop this competition and avoid “Silo operation”. Are mentioned as models of cultural equipment “The Franciscans of Deauville”, which combine an exhibition site, a library and a conference center.
The “House of Culture” is a project all the more important for the city as it aims to obtain the “City of Art and History” label. Estimated at 15 million euros, this project represents a significant investment in a context of budgetary tension: the city will finance it while using the DRAC, the department and the agglomeration, specifies Nicolas Leblanc. The cost of restoring the museum’s works is to be integrated into the budget.
This investment is part of a large renovation and requalification program of certain districts: the inheritance of the post-1945 reconstruction requires readjustments with the demographic evolution of the city and the “Densification of the station district”. The choice of project management will be announced soon, and the work should start in 2027 for delivery at the end of 2028.
