Museon Arlaten

Arles - Cultural place

The Arlaten Museum, the departmental ethnography museum founded at the end of the 19th century by the poet Frédéric Mistral, is a 'place of memories' of Provençal society. It is the result of feelings of belonging, as expressed during the 19th century, and has helped to perpetuate them in the following century.
Although the old building now focuses resolutely on the future, time has passed, leaving its mark on the buildings. The time has come for the Arlaten Museum to undergo extensive renovations, not only to the building but also scientifically speaking.
On the completion of this work, undertaken by the General Council of Les Bouches-du-Rhône, the museum will have specially adapted tools to allow the public to follow a new itinerary and rediscover not only the heritage of Mistral but also the results of the ethnographic research and investigations into contemporary heritage currently being set up at the Arlaten Museum.
The renovation will therefore support the metamorphosis of the Arlaten Museum from a 19th century ethnography museum to a real museum for and about society. This museum will become:
a key tool in the analysis of social facts and in the process of sharing and integrating collective memory,
a venue for local resources and for collecting present-day memories in keeping with the everyday life of the residents of contemporary Provence.
Until its planned reopening in 2017, the 'extra muros Arlaten Museum' will foreshadow the 'renovated Arlaten Museum', thanks to a cultural programme and actions to promote cultural diversity, and also by introducing exhibition sessions and cultural activities aimed at a broader section of the public.
In addition, the Atelier des Roues, a former SNCF workshop in Arles, has now been transformed into the Centre for the Study, Restoration and Conservation of Works (CERCO), which has become the museum's conservation centre and is open to the public. A place for study, treatment and conservation, this space combines workshops and conservation-restoration rooms with shops and a reading room, as well as a room dedicated to disinfectation by freezing and anoxia (oxygen deprivation).

Information provided by OT Arles