The Musée Sainte-Croix is the largest museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in Poitiers

Poitiers

Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

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Planned by architect Jean Monge and built in 1974, it stands at the site of the former Abbaye Sainte-Croix, which was moved to Saint-Benoît, Vienne

Saint-Benoît, Vienne

Saint-Benoît is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...

. It is a constructed of concrete and glass, in the 1970s style.

The museum hosts a permanent exhibition on periods from prehistory

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 to the contemporary art, through the medieval period and the Fine art

Fine art

Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....

s. Major works include sculptures of Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel was a French sculptor and graphic artist. She was the elder sister of the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel.- Early years :...

 and Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin

François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...

, the vase of Saint-Savin

Saint-Savin

Saint-Savin is the name of several communes in France:* Saint-Savin, Gironde* Saint-Savin, Hautes-Pyrénées* Saint-Savin, Isère* Saint-Savin, Vienne, also referred to as Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe...

, and the stone sculpture

Stone sculpture

Stone sculpture is the result of forming 3-dimensional visually interesting objects from stone.Carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself, beginning perhaps with incised images on cave walls. Prehistoric sculptures were usually human forms, such as the Venus of...

 of L'Âme de la France

L'Âme de la France

L'Âme de la France is the name given by the French sculptor Carlo Sarrabezolles to three identical monumental statues that he executed in three different materials during the interwar period, the first in plaster in 1921, the second in stone in 1922, and the last in bronze in 1930...

 by Charles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles

Charles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles

Charles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles , also known as Carlo Sarrabezolles , was a French sculptor....

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