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Origin and history

The museum of the Compagnie des Indes, installed in the citadel of Port Louis since 1984, is dedicated to the history of Lorient and the companies of the Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was born from the exhibition Lorient et la Mer in 1966, organized for the three-hundredth anniversary of the city, which inspired the creation of a permanent museum. The initial collections come from this exhibition and donations, supplemented by deposits of national institutions such as the Louvre or the Musée Guimet. The museum was inaugurated in 1985 after the development of eight rooms in the citadel, becoming the only one in France dedicated to this theme.

The museum evokes the origins of trade between Europe and Asia, from silk roads to the creation of Indian companies. It presents objects related to navigation, life on board ships, and commercial counters in Africa, India, China and Japan. Models of ships, porcelain, textiles and navigational instruments illustrate these exchanges. A room is dedicated to the sinking of the Prince of Conty (1746), whose wreckage was searched by the DRASM. The museum journey, revised in 2007, highlights these collections while integrating contemporary themes.

Temporary exhibitions explore specific aspects, such as slavery (Tromelin, the island of slaves forgotten in 2016), Chinese porcelain (From Lorient to the East in 2015), or coffee plantations (Café, pleasure to taste bitterness in 2022). The museum also organizes conferences, symposia and educational activities. Its collections, enriched by recent acquisitions, include archaeological pieces, Asian works of art and historical documents, reflecting Lorient's maritime and colonial heritage.

The museum was founded by André Garrigues, curator of the Lorient library and founding member of the Tricentennial Committee. This committee, now the Association of Friends of the Museum, played a key role in the creation of collections. The museum is located in the citadel of Port Louis, a historic site opposite the National Marine Museum, strengthening its anchoring in the Breton maritime heritage. Its thematic rooms, such as those on India or China, reconstruct colonial interiors and exhibit rare objects, such as palempores or samurai armor.

Since its opening, the museum has evolved to incorporate contemporary approaches, such as modern art exhibitions in dialogue with its historical collections. In 2024, an exhibition was dedicated to the sinking of the Prince of Conty, in partnership with DRASM. The museum remains a place of memory and research, illustrating the links between Lorient, Brittany and the world trade routes of past centuries.

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