[5] The town house is from the eighteenth century but two Renaissance arcades discovered during restoration work evidences older buildings on the site.

On 25 June 1907, the house was bequeathed to the town of Colmar by Auguste Bartholdi's widow on condition it was made into a museum.

Madame Bartholdi died in 1914 but the First World War delayed the setting up of the museum until Alsace was returned to France from Germany.

[7] The museum, inaugurated on 18 November 1922, preserves a collection of sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs of sketches and models.

[8][9] It houses on three levels the space dedicated to this emblematic 19th century artist for having created Liberty Enlightening the World and the Lion of Belfort.