Construction of warehouse 1900 (≈ 1900)
Building housing the museum today.
1990
Opening of the museum
Opening of the museum 1990 (≈ 1990)
Under the name Musée des Métiers de Mercure.
2008
Adding a distillery
Adding a distillery 2008 (≈ 2008)
Reconstitution of a liquor store.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Key figures
Information non disponible - No character cited
The source text does not mention any names.
Origin and history
The Museum of Commerce of the past is located in the historic heart of Rochefort, a city labeled "towns and countries of art and history". This private museum, opened in 1990 as the Mercury Trades Museum, is housed in an old 1,000 m2 warehouse built in 1900. It reconstructs twenty typical shops and workshops from the early 20th century, with an exceptional collection of advertising objects.
At its opening, the museum presented a dozen boutiques of the Belle Époque, and then enriched itself with eight stalls of the Entre-deux-guerres, including a bar rochefortais. In 2008, a liquor store and cognac distillery were added to the basement. Today, it is one of the busiest museums in Rochefort, attracting around 26,000 visitors annually, mainly tourists.
The museum is distinguished by its immersive museography, restoring the atmosphere of the 1900s through careful decors and thousands of advertising articles. It is often cited in tourist guides for its originality and its anchoring in the local cultural heritage. Its success is part of the development of urban and cultural tourism in Charente-Maritime, alongside other private museums such as the Treasures of Lisette or Automates.
