Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The museum of the Cevenole Valleys comes from the passion of Daniel Travier, marked from childhood by the legacy of a padded grandfather and historian pastor. Aware of the richness of the Cevenol heritage, he began collecting objects, tools and documents from his teens illustrating daily life and local history. This preservation work led in 1981 to the opening of the first museum, installed in a 17th-century daffenage relay acquired by the city of Saint-Jean-du-Gard. The initially modest collections enrich up to 30,000 pieces, making moving necessary.

In 2002, the agglomeration community of the Grand Alès en Cévennes acquired the old red house spinning, built between 1836 and 1838, to transfer the collections there. This industrial site, pioneer of silk spinning in Cevennes (first to use steam in 1809), also symbolizes the end of an era: it was the last active spinning in France, closing in 1965. The museum officially reopens in 2017 under the name Maison Rouge - Museum of Cevenole Valleys, after the donation of the collections by Daniel Travier's association to EPCI Alès Agglomeration.

Today, the museum showcases nearly 10,000 objects in a permanent course organized around key themes: farming, seric farming, religion, habitat, and the role of chestnut trees. The architecture of the place, combining the 19th century industrial heritage with a contemporary extension signed by Pierre Vurpas, strengthens its anchor in local history. The museum is labeled Musée de France and is positioned as a living reflection of Cevenola culture, from its traditional trades to its collective practices.

The collections cover a variety of fields, from ethnology (costumes, furniture, handicraft tools) to religious history, to industrial silk-related techniques. The former Red House spinning, with its monumental staircase, illustrates the technological evolution of the Cevennes, while the objects exhibited testify to the resilience of a society marked by its mountainous environment and Protestant traditions.

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