From childhood home to museum of reference
Founded in 1997, the Christian Dior Museum immerses you in the creator’s personal life. Housed in his childhood home, it has become an emblematic venue of international renown.
In 1987, on the occasion of the brand’s 40th birthday, Jean-Luc Dufresne, Christian Dior’s first cousin twice removed, organised the exhibition Christian Dior, the Other Himself at the Richard Anacréon Museum of Modern Art, whose curator he was. The exhibition enjoyed great success and was the departure point for establishment of the Christian Dior Museum, to which he devoted all his energy. He gathered together a group of enthusiastic volunteers, instigated the creation of an association and started to amass the collection. He obtained the first items from the creator’s family and friends: Catherine Dior, the couturier’s sister, donated family photographs and documents, while Jacques Rouët, the House’s Business Manager, donated “Monsieur Dior’s” good-luck star, last diary and one of his watches.
Creation of the Présence de Christian Dior association
Established in 1991, the Présence de Christian Dior association united Christian Dior Couture, Parfums Christian Dior, the LVMH Group and the City of Granville around a common project. This unusual partnership ensured the Museum a global reputation and powerful cultural momentum.
The association took over the Museum’s management by delegation of public service. It acquired and structured its collections and cultural actions around the Granville-born couturier’s legacy, memory, personality and career. It fitted out the venue as a museum, including creation of “exhibition rooms” in 1997, which enabled it to open the villa to the public and present its collections in it.
Learn more about the association
The Museum’s highlights since its creation
The Museum has charted a remarkable course since it opened in 1997. It obtained the Museum of France designation in 2002 and there have been several decisive chapters in its story since then, including the 2005 exhibition, an event held to mark the centenary of the couturier’s birth and which attracted a remarkable number of visitors. In 2012, the Museum was awarded the House of the Illustrious label by the Ministry of Culture.
2002: The Museum of France label, guarantee of commitment at the service of collections
In 2002, the Christian Dior Museum, one of the only two museums exclusively devoted to a couturier (along with the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris), obtained the highly demanding Museum of France label, guaranteeing the Ministry of Culture’s support for its actions and the institution’s commitment at the service of its collections. Governed by the Law of 4 January 2002, the Museum undertakes to “conserve, restore, study and enrich its collections; to make them accessible to the public; to undertake education and awareness-raising activities; to help towards the progress and development of research”.
2005: An exceptional number of visitors
The exhibition Christian Dior, Man of the Century, labelled “exhibition of national interest”, included loans from major international collections. Inaugurated jointly by the Minister of Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, and the Chairman and CEO of the LVMH Group, Bernard Arnault, it received some 50,000 visitors.
View the Museum’s past exhibitions
2012: The House of the Illustrious label
The same year, the Museum became a House of the Illustrious. It joined the exclusive club of venues so rewarded, alongside Victor Hugo’s house in Guernsey and Jean-François Millet’s birthplace in Gréville-Hague, to name just the nearest.
2019: A new turning point
After the flagship exhibition in 2005, whose peak attendance would only become a constant ten years later, the exhibition Grace of Monaco: Princess in Dior enjoyed unprecedented success with over 72,000 visitors. In close partnership with the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, the exhibition was inaugurated by Albert II and consolidated the Christian Dior Museum’s reputation at home and abroad.
Make the most of a constantly renewed Museum
Ready to enjoy a backstage view of the great couturier’s creativity? Come to the Christian Dior Museum and discover its originality. Don’t hesitate to book your ticket online so as to avoid having to queue.
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