Museums in Poitou-Charente

Musée de la céramique
17100 La Chapelle-des-Pots

The Saintonge ceramic museum, housed in a Charentaise house in La Chapelle-des-Pots, traces the ancestral art of pottery from the 13th to the 19th century. Closed since 2014, it preserves an oven classified with historical monuments.

Musée d'Art et d'histoire locale
17410 Saint-Martin-de-Ré

The Ernest Cognacq Museum, housed in a 15th-century mansion in Saint-Martin-de-Ré (Charente-Maritime), traces the history of the island of Ré through archaeological, artistic and historical collections, including a journey on colonial bagnes and Vauban fortifications.

Musée des arts et traditions populaires
17240 Clion

The artisanal and rural museum of Clion, housed in a former presbytery in Charente-Maritime, exhibits 1,500 19th-century tools illustrating Saintonge rural life.

Musée d'Archéologie et d'Antiquité
86000 Poitiers

The Sainte-Croix Museum, built in 1974 in Poitiers, New Aquitaine, is a brutalist museum with archaeological and artistic collections, from Prehistory to the 20th century, in the former site of St. Croix Abbey.

86100 Antran

The Musée de l'auto, de la moto et du vélo in Châtellerault, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, traces the history of ground transportation since the 19th century in an old weapons factory transformed into a technical and industrial museum space.

Écomusée
79510 Coulon

The Poitevin Marais House, an eco-museum located in Coulon (Deux-Sèvres), traces the history of the Wet Marais and its inhabitants since 1988 in a 16th century seigneurial residence.

Musée d'histoire naturelle et de Paléontologie
17000 La Rochelle

The Natural History Museum of La Rochelle, housed in an 18th century mansion, houses exceptional scientific and ethnographic collections, including France's oldest natural history firm.

Musée d'Art et d'histoire locale
17100 Bussac-sur-Charente

The Dupuy-Mestreau Museum, housed in an 18th-century mansion in Saintes (Charente-Maritime), presents ethnographic collections on traditional life in Saintonge, Aunis and Angoumois until the early 20th century.