Ecomuseums revive the know-how of yesteryear

A luminous, airy and colorful hall, a few low tables and comfortable sofas where drinking coffee, the entrance makes the somewhat dusty image that you can make of the eco -museums immediately. The visit to the museum of textiles and social life of Fourmies (North), one of the two sites of the Ecomuseum of Avesnois, completes to remind the clichés in the cupboard. In the company of a mediator, the textile machines come back to life and plunge the visitor into the atmosphere of the industrial town of the 20th century, which then became one of the strong places on the wool.

After a space devoted to Gennestin cars, a local car manufacturer of the 1920s, the daily ants are revealed in a reconstituted period street. Bazaar, post office, classroom, interior of a house, shoe repair … “Here, nothing is in a cardboard, all the brands come from the stores that have existed, specifies Laurent Nachbauer, deputy director. I participated, for example, in the recovery of the furniture from this haberdashery, located rue du Théâtre, twenty years ago. »»

An intimate dimension

Safeguard regional heritage, witnesses to daily life and the know-how of men in their respective territories, such is the mission of these institutions. The Federation of Ecomuseums and Society Museums – which also includes museums of ethnology, technical and industrial – in account about 200. Created in the late 1960s by intellectuals or motivated individuals, later by communities, these places are very diverse in nature.

The Ecomuseum of Marquèze and its thirty traditional Landes buildings led visitors to the daily life of an agricultural district of the end of the 19th century organized around a Airial (space open in the typical Landes forest). In the Nièvre, one of the sites of the Ecomuseum of the Morvan is interested in local nurses who elevated children of public assistance in Paris until the 1970s. When the exhibitions of the Ecomuseum of La Roudoule, in the Alpes-Maritimes (which employs an employee), welcome 4,600 visitors per year, the most frequented, that of Alsace (50 employees and 300 volunteers), attracting 190,000. Constantly increased attendance since 2018 (excluding health crisis).

Gateway to discover a territory, these establishments are acclaimed by visitors in search of authenticity. “There is another museum turned towards contemporary creation around the glass about twenty kilometers from here, but we wanted an interactive place and in” its juice “”, confirm Mikael and Delphine, who came with their son Victor, 9, to discover the second site of the Ecomuseum of Avesnois dedicated to the glass industry. “We frequent ecomuseums to learn how our ancestors lived, what their know-how were, add Brigitte and Jean-Claude, a retired couple. Last year, we visited one in Cantal. We always remember something from these places. They tell a story, while art museums leave us rather indifferent. »»

Here, especially when time interiors are staged, everyone can recognize themselves and smell a memory. The intimate is never far away. “Often, grandparents start to tell anecdotes of their young age to their grandchildren,” says Claudette Kraemer, one of the oldest volunteers of the Alsace eco-museum. I am not sure they do it in another setting. »Dressed as a teacher or embodying the mayor’s wife, the octogenarian has informed visitors in the alleys of the traditional Alsatian reconstituted village, which has buildings ranging from the sixteenth to the 20th century. She finds that “young people are increasingly interested in the traditions of yesteryear, as if something was missing”. Jean Foulon, a volunteer glass blower in Avesnois, abounds: “Twenty years ago, visitors were spectators, today, they ask many more questions. »»

Rely on residents

In this museum family, digital devices are used sparingly. Human is essential. “Objects show how we lived yesterday, mediation is used to explain how we live today, how we will live tomorrow: what are the trades on an island?” Is there still a school? »Lists Delphine Kermel, project manager cultural projects in Ouessant (Finistère), recalling one of the original missions of the ecomuseums: better understanding the present and reflecting on the future of a territory by considering all of its components.

The transmission of gesture, know-how is fundamental. Not for folklore. Thus, the traditional Perche houses still have many wood ovens. “The new inhabitants come to see us to understand how they work and put them in service,” says Florence Chaligné, director of the local eco -museum. Plein of hedges (size and braiding), manufacturing of butter, picking and using medicinal plants, traditional buildings, weaving and spinning: the knowledge of yesteryear, a time swept by modernity, many are transmitted to it.

Sometimes ecomuseums are even the framework of entrepreneurial projects. In the Avesnois, the glasses molds preserved in the collections are reused by contemporary creators. In the same spirit, in Alsace, Solenne Rouault, the Deputy Director General Culture, would like to encourage architects to come and draw inspiration from the techniques of old houses with wooden sides.

This is the whole paradox. Still considered as a background, sometimes looked at with disdain, these establishments appear on the contrary very in line with our time when we revalue the local, the sobriety of uses, the rational use of resources. They also seek to place themselves at the center of their territories, analyzes Serge Chaumier, researcher in museology. “Originally, their role was to make a company, to co -construct with the inhabitants, they carry this participative DNA in them. Today, while we are trying to recreate shared activities again and find meaning, they are well placed to become common houses, third places, reunion places. »»

To achieve this, you must nevertheless bring back the inhabitants by reminding them that the ecomuseum is not just a window. It is in this sense that the Burgundian Bresse Ecomuseum, in Saône-et-Loire, has multiplied for a few years events, such as Biodiversity and Gastronomy or Concerts, which increase local attendance.

The Fourmisian site of the Ecomuseum of Avesnois inaugurated a real store in a storefront in 2021, open to all. “We are gradually seeing people from the raw returning home, is satisfied with Laurent Nachbauer. If we need tourists to live, the inhabitants are essential. When you prepare an exhibition on the relationship to nature, the gaze of a local farmer will always be interesting alongside those of scientists. We will have understood, strongly to keep the best of the past, the ecomuseums have both feet in the present.