The Rochechouart Château and Museum of Contemporary Art

Overlooking the Graine and Vayres Valley, Rochechouart Château houses the Rochechouart Départemental Museum of Contemporary Art and knows how to create a dialogue between heritage and modern creation.

In a remarkable 15^th century building, the dialogue between heritage and creation has led to the constitution of an exemplary contemporary art collection as well as the production of pieces more specific to the place.

The château

Strongly anchored in the landscape, Rochechouart château was built on a rocky promontory overlooking the Graine and Vayres Valley around the year 1000 before being almost totally rebuilt at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the 16^th century. Built from extra-terrestrial stone and known for its Renaissance frescoes, the château continues to be a place of creation of all eras having been a contemporary art museum for around thirty years.

The museum and the contemporary collection

Situated in the Rochechouart château, the museum is distinguished by a permanent dialogue between contempoary creation and a historical heritage. Right from its first years as a museum, orders for permanent works were given to international artists (Giuseppe Penone, Richard Long).

In conjunction with the installation of the Museum in Rochechouart château, three fundamental themes prevailed when compiling this collection; history, landscapesry and fantasy. Over time, the museum has created a remarkable collection that, today, includes around 300 works by international artists.

The display of these collections are renewed each year.

Favouring a dialogue between heritage and contemporary creation, this edifice listed as a historical monument notably allows a discovery of two remarkable interior spaces:

• the Hercules Gallery: this room contains a painted fresco dating from the first quarter of the 16^th century,
• the hunt room: this room is covered in a richly coloured painted mural, which tells the story of a deer hunt in the grounds of the château at the beginning of the 16^th century.

In 1989, with the establishment of the Raoul Hausmann foundation, the museum found with this famous Dadaist, its tutelary figure.

And in 30 years, the Rochechouart Départemental Museum of Contemporary Art has created a first-class modern art collection of 300 works. The museum has gathered together an exceptional collection of works by artists represented in the most important museums in Europe.