Between 1850 and 1870, the population of Berck increased significantly. In 1863, the Mayor, François Fontaine, requested the deployment of a half-brigade of foot gendarmes. Nine years later, the request was granted. Five mounted gendarmes were deployed to Berck. Based on plans by the architect Emile Lavezzari (who also drew up plans for the Maritime Hospital), a gendarmerie was built in 1871 at 60 rue de l'Impératrice, the main thoroughfare linking Berck-Ville to Berck-Plage. The building was handed over to the town in 1979 for use by the Museum - created in 1964 and whose collections had previously been housed in the Town Hall. The current museum, enlarged in 2002, now houses a major archaeological collection spanning almost 2,000 years of history, a rich Fine Arts collection featuring artists from the "Berck School" and an ethnological collection recounting life in the Berck of yesteryear. The museum is a bridge between history, art, the past and the future.
