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Origin and history

The Musée du Nouveau Monde de La Rochelle was inaugurated in 1982 at the initiative of Michel Crépeau, then mayor of the city. Its collections, which have been established since 1978, have been enriched by state deposits, including the National Museum of the Arts of Africa and Oceania in Paris. The museum explores the historical relations between France and the New World, particularly New France (Canada, Louisiana) and the West Indies, through works of art, decorative objects and documents related to emigration and transatlantic trade.

Located in the Hôtel de Fleuriau, a house built between 1740 and 1750 in the Parisian style of the time, the museum occupies a building enlarged around 1780 by Aimé Benjamin Fleuriau, a rich planter returning from Santo Domingo. The hotel, with its central body and two wings, reflects 18th century aristocratic architecture. Its history is linked to the colonial economy, notably through slavery in the French plantations of America, a theme addressed in the exhibitions.

The museum's collections include paintings, engravings, sculptures, ancient maps and decorative art objects, as well as 18th-century French and American colonial furniture. One section is dedicated to the economy of the French colonies, based on slavery, while another highlights the Amerindians and the conquest of the American West. These elements illustrate the complex legacy of the exchanges between Europe and the New World, with La Rochelle as the major port of these relations.

The Hôtel de Fleuriau, acquired in 1772 by Aimé Benjamin Fleuriau, was modified to include a garden and a new building body. This rich merchant, having made a fortune in Santo Domingo, embodies the links between the Rock bourgeoisie and the colonies. The museum, labeled Musée de France, offers artistic, historical and ethnological lighting on this pivotal period.

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