Located beside the Angoulême Cathedral in the heart of the historical center of the city, it is classified as a Musée de France, and has important archaeological, ethnographic and artistic collections.

Starting in 1868 the French government began to send paintings that had been exhibited in the Paris Salons to Angoulême, where they were first stored in the attic of the old city hall.

[1] Dr Jules Lhomme (1857–1934) bequeathed a major collection of works of art and ethnography from around the world to the city.

The entire museum was renovated between 2005 and 2008, reopening on 1 March 2008 with 1,700 square metres (18,000 sq ft) of exhibition space.

[5] The collection bequeathed to the museum by Dr Jules Lhomme in 1934 includes works of art and ethnography from Africa (Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar); Asia (India, Indonesia, Indochina, China and Japan); Oceania (Melanesia, Polynesia) and America (Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Alaska).