The best specialized museums Charente-Maritime

The Maritime Museum offers three areas to visit. The colorful pavilions house exhibition spaces where you can learn more about the city's port history. You will go from the port of Rupella to that of the Minimes, from fishing to pleasure boating. Among the eight boats, you will have the pleasure to climb on the France 1, a weather frigate which is the figurehead of the museum, but also on the Angoumois, a trawler which used to leave for 15 days tides.

Located near the Media Center and just two steps away from a beautiful oceanic walk, these museums are a pretty stop. If you arrive from the city, you need to take your car! Choose the smuggler who will take you up to here in a moment. The Automates Museum, first of its kind in France and opened since 1984, has some prestigious pieces. It offers the joy of watching a collection of ancient figurines from all over Europe. The research has been thorough: sales rooms, antique dealers, granaries, department stores… the result is up to the height, with automates dating back to the nineteenth century and those commercials of the 1950 s, but also historical reconstructions like this district of Montmartre in the early twentieth century, with its shops and windows. The Museum of Reduced Models, nestled right next door, also offers a trip to childhood in the small world of imaginary. The visit is more classical and allows you to admire, among other things, models of boats facing in a naval battle or referring to the Great Discoveries and of course railway circuits.

This small museum - opened in 1998 - is located in the small village of Archingeay. Installed in the old school of the village, it allows a dive in the beginning of the ^XXth century. The scenes evoke the daily life of a housewife: enamelled coffee pots, cake moulds, scales, as well as curiosities, toys, fashion... The visit is both amusing and moving! Not to be missed after the tour: a magnificent collection of boxes (1880-1930).

The museum presents in the former presbytery of the commune nine trades to the old as well as the corresponding tools, put into situation thanks to models: farmer, carpenter, charron, shoemaker, blacksmith, carpenter, résinier, sabotier and cooper. It is a success. And don't forget to climb on the floor, you'll find a nice pottery exhibition. For children, the course is punctuated by riddles to be resolved to access the Treasure trove of Métiers's trades.