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Origin and history

The Gallé-Juillet Museum is located in the former Creil Castle in the Oise (Hautes-de-France). It consists of two 19th century houses: the Gallé-Juillet house and the faience house. Labeled Musée de France, it preserves medieval remains, such as dogid crosses visible on the ground floor.

The house was built between 1846 and 1868 by Jules July, Mayor of Creil, on the foundations of a medieval tower. Transformed into a cabinet of curiosities, it housed 17 rooms on four levels. In 1929, Berthe Gallé, widow of Augustus Gallé and bereaved by the death of her son Maurice during the First World War, donated it to the city. The donation required that the house be kept as if its occupants were still living there.

The museum houses various collections: Gallo-Roman archaeology (including the treasure of the lock), 15,000 works of decorative art, and objects related to Creil's faience factory (1797–95). The latter, founded by Robert Bray O Gallé-Juillet House also illustrates the local bourgeois life, from the French Revolution to 1914.

Among the notables who lived there were Ernest Gallé, painter and collector, cousin of Émile Gallé (founder of Art Nouveau), and his son Maurice, who died in action in 1916. The museum exhibits stamped furniture, ceramics, paintings, and a children's theatre, as well as 600 fine earthenware produced in Creil. The 1929 donation was intended to perpetuate the memory of the Gallé and July families.

The faience factory, which was revived in 1802 after a first failure in 1797, reached its peak under the direction of Bagnall, who introduced Wedgwood-inspired techniques. In 1866, it employed 503 Creillois out of 4,539 inhabitants. Its closure in 1895 marked the end of a major industrial era for the city, where Montataire's forges also dominated the local economy.

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