Abbeville Abandons €30.5M Boucher-de-Perthes Museum Rebuild Mid-Construction

Key facts

• Abbeville mayor Angelo Tonolli announced on 21 September the abandonment of the €30.5 million renovation and extension of the Musée Boucher-de-Perthes-Manessier.
• The future museum's operation was estimated at about €2 million annually, equal to the commune's current gross savings, and 87% of the financing plan relied on unsecured contributions.
• The museum has been closed since September 2024; asbestos removal took place in autumn 2025 and demolition of non-preserved buildings began in February 2026.
• W-Architectures' scheme would have increased the surface from 2,000 to 3,400 m², including a wing for Alfred Manessier's large-format works, with opening planned for late 2028.
• The €15.8 million HT construction tender was published in June 2026 with offers due 21 September; no contract had been awarded, limiting indemnities to tens of thousands of euros.
• Restoration of the Unesco-listed belfry is to conclude on 20 October, while excavations revealed 29 dwellings from the 13th-16th centuries, three bronze kilns, a roadway and a dried-up 13th-century river.
• The museum holds nearly 80,000 works and objects; a new conservation facility is estimated at about €1 million, with no location or schedule specified.
• The Manessier family donated around 800 works in 2001 and 2019; Tonolli promised the artist's two children a dedicated venue by late 2028.