Fine Arts & Lace Museum - Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle

25 rue Richelieu
62100 Calais
Tel: 00 33 (0)321 46 48 40
Web: www.musee.calais.fr

Open: Daily (not Tuesday) from 10am-12noon and 2pm-5.30pm
Saturday from 10am-12 noon and 2pm-6.30pm
Sunday from 2pm-6.30pm
Closed: Tuesday and bank holidays
Entry: 3 euros. Kids to 19 years old, 1.50 euros

This museum, aptly located in a former 19th century lace factory, is dedicated to the glory of Calais' lace-making heritage. Though Calais lace is famous throughout the world, it was actually smuggled here by Nottingham lacemakers. According to French chronicles, the first Englishman to smuggle a lace machine into Calais was Robert Webster in 1816. In Blighty, Nottingham lace makers were plying their trade by hand. To them, modern technology meant unemployment so the lace making machines were smuggled to Calais where they were welcomed and an industry started in the district of St Pierre.

Today a hefty 78% of the lace production in Calais is exported to 140 countries and used mostly to make lingerie and wedding dresses. Traditional lace is made with Leavers machine and is distingued by a quality label with a peacock emblem.

Prepare to be dazzled by the lacy haute couture garments on display and also impressed by a stunning collection of monuments and sculptures depicting Calais' history. The 19th century sculptures centre around the works of Rodin and the extensive studies he made before completing the Burghers of Calais currently on show in front of the Town Hall.

And finally, be sure to make a bee-line for the relief maps of old Calais showing how Calais looked when it was still walled town before the Great War.