Schoelcher Museum

Owned by the Department

Museums of France

All museums in France

Crédit photo : LPLT - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

XIXe siècle

Époque contemporaine

1900

2000

1883

Gift of Schoelcher's collections

21 juillet 1887

Opening of the museum

1928

Cyclone damage

17 août 1979

Registration for historical monuments

2022

Reopening under the name Musarth

Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The facades and the roof (Case AI 33): inscription by decree of 17 August 1979

Key figures

Victor Schoelcher - Politician and abolitionist	Founder of the museum, donor of collections.
Frédéric-Louis-Désiré Bogino - Sculptor	Author of Schoelcher's bust (1913).
Marguerite Gagneur - Serious	Author of the plaque Freedom Delivering the Slave.
Émile Merwart - Governor of Guadeloupe	Inaugurated Schoelcher's bust in 1913.
Armand Hanne - Land donor	Offered the land to build the museum.

Origin and history

The Schoelcher Museum, located in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, was built in the last quarter of the 19th century to house the collections of Victor Schoelcher, a French journalist and politician, a strong advocate of the abolition of slavery. In 1883 Schoelcher donated to the General Council of Guadeloupe his collection of objects, sculptures and porcelains, supplemented in 1885 by deposits of the Louvre Museum. The neoclassical building, entirely made of stone, was inaugurated on 21 July 1887 on the occasion of Schoelcher's 83rd anniversary.

The museum suffered major damage during the cyclone of 1928, causing the destruction of many rooms. After renovations in 1998 and 2016, it reopened in 2022 under the name of Musarth, with a modernized museum. Its collections, enriched over time, include slavery-related objects, works of art, and historical artifacts such as busts, Egyptian sarcophagus, and torture instruments.

Among the emblematic pieces are the bust of Victor Schoelcher by Bogino (1913), a plaque offered by the first conscripts of Guadeloupe (1913), and a statue symbolizing the abolition of slavery. The museum has been partially listed as a historical monument since 1979. Its architecture, marked by limestone facades and a stone porch, reflects the heritage importance of this place dedicated to the memory of slavery and its abolition.

The collections also include Schoelcher's personal items, such as an abolitionist medallion by Josiah Wedgwood, as well as works by local artists and archaeological artifacts, such as slave carcans found in Guadeloupe. These elements illustrate the complex history of slave trade and resistance.

The Schoelcher Museum, now Museum of Art and History (Musarth), plays a key role in preserving the collective memory of Guadeloupe. It offers a space for reflection on the colonial heritage and the struggles for freedom, while highlighting the artistic and historical heritage of the region.