Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saintongeese Ceramic Museum is a French museum located in the village of La Chapelle-des-Pots, Charente-Maritime, New Aquitaine region. Set in a traditional Charente house, it highlights the technical and artistic history of local pottery, a tradition dating back to the thirteenth century. The museum covered a period from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, with collections of medieval pottery, pieces from local excavations, and showcases dedicated to traditional ceramic techniques. It was organized in three permanent exhibition rooms, supplemented by temporary space projects dedicated to varnished pottery.

The museum opened in 1981, supported by public and private actors, including the Fondation des pays de France. He has acquired a regional recognition, contained in the Michelin Green Guide and on selective lists of museums of the Poitou-Charentes. However, after the election of a new municipality in 2014, the museum was closed and its signage removed. His collections, inventoried between 2015 and 2016, are no longer exhibited on site. Only the Varoqeau kiln remains, inscribed in the historical monuments and visible from the outside, witness to this artisanal heritage.

Bernard Palissy, famous for introducing the technique of faience in France in the 16th century, stayed in La Chapelle-des-Pots, strengthening the historical link of the village with ceramics. The museum was initially run by local associations, such as the SESACTS (Société d'étude et de sauvage de l'artisain traditionnel en Saintonge), and then by Terres et feus de Saintonge, which published its documentation. Close by, the privately-owned factory Jean Alexiu, now closed, completed the museum offering with a space dedicated to faience, also mentioned in the Michelin Green Guide.

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