Duke Louis II of Bourbon decided in 1378 to install the ducal court of accounts in Moulins, making the city the capital of the Duchy of Bourbon; it will remain so until 1532, the date of the duchy's attachment to the Crown. After the devastation at the start of the Hundred Years' War, Duke Louis II had the Château de Moulins rebuilt between 1366 and 1375. King Charles VIII wanted to assert his rights over the Kingdom of Naples and began the First Italian War, between 1497 and 1499. During this time, Charles VIII entrusted his sister, Anne de Beaujeu and her husband Pierre II de Bourbon with the regency of the kingdom which will be exercised from Moulins. The French discovered Italian Renaissance art during this war. Following this discovery, around 1500, Anne de Beaujeu and Pierre II de Bourbon had the architect Marceau Rodier build one of the first buildings of Renaissance architecture in France to close the courtyard of the castle. The presence of Pierre de Beaujeu's monogram on the pavilion suggests that it was completed before his death in 1503. After the duchy was attached to the Crown, the castle was only occupied sporadically and was poorly maintained. In 1755, a fire ravaged the wing of Anne de Beaujeu's pavilion. In 1774, the state of the castle had it classified as a ruin. In 1839, the Anne-de-Beaujeu pavilion became a gendarmerie. It was saved by its classification as a historic monument in 1840.
The entire pavilion was restored, completed with annex buildings, in 1907, to house a museum following the donation from Louis Mantin. The Anne-de-Beaujeu pavilion has housed the Moulins art and archeology museum since 1910, with the Mantin house.
Translated by Google •
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