Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maritime Museum of Tatihou Island is housed in the buildings of an ancient lazaret built in 1721 after the plague of Marseilles. This site, located in the harbour of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue (Manche, Normandy), was originally conceived as a quarantine place before sheltering, from 1882 to 1923, a marine research laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History. Between 1939 and 1984, the sites served successively as a school colony and then as a re-education centre for young people, before they were rehabilitated in a museum in 1990, opened to the public in 1992 for the tricentenary of the Battle of the Hougue.

The main purpose of the museum is to preserve archaeological objects from underwater excavations carried out between 1991 and 1995 on five wrecks of French vessels burned during the naval battle of 3 June 1692. These remains, including cannons, dishes, shoes and frames, offer a unique testimony of Jean-Baptiste Colbert's fleet and the life of sailors in the 17th century. Tatihou Island, linked to this event, also houses fortifications classified at Unesco since 2008, as the fort of the Hougue, built in 1694 by Vauban.

A second part of the museum is dedicated to the maritime ethnography of the coasts of Lower Normandy, presenting the technical and social history of fishing, as well as port facilities. The collection includes traditional boats, naval carpentry tools and fishing gear. In 2017, a fire caused by lightning destroyed some of the reserves, including 200 insured paintings for two million euros, saving the works exhibited, such as those by Théodore Gudin or Joseph Vernet.

Tatihou's Lazaret, classified as a Historical Monument, also illustrates Vauban's military architecture. Its buildings, including the laboratory-hospital of 1822 and the bastioned ramparts, testify to its evolution: from a quarantine to a scientific centre, then to a museum. The library, located in the former hospital, completes this heritage linked to the maritime and health history of the region.

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