The best museums Franche-Comté

Amateur of old mechanics, this museum is made for you! Originally, this museum was the dream of the Association Le Chaudron, which aimed to present its collections within a museum, in order to make them discover them to as many people as possible. In 1993, after five years of construction, the museum finally opened its doors. Since then, it has welcomed thousands of visitors in a 1,500 ^m2 space divided into three parts. Most of the museum is used to display steam engines, cars and trucks from rural life. The second is used as a miniature shop and documentation centre. Finally, a specific place is dedicated to the maintenance and, above all, to the restoration of rare pieces, which can sometimes exceed a hundred years old.

In the Mâcon competition of 1874, Emile Puzenat was awarded a first prize for an invention that would greatly facilitate the work of the fields: La En, Mr Puzenat will have at his disposal, a few years later, the creation of another revolutionary tool: horse rake. Thus, this museum presents an industrial retrospective of the Puzenat plant from 1882 to 1956 which revolutionized the farming world by facilitating the work of farmers. An exhibition complemented by many wooden tools of the time (over 400 transplanted).

This museum was created in 1861 to accommodate the most significant Roman and medieval architectural elements (very beautiful fragments of tents and cornices), often too voluminous to be placed at the Rolin Museum. The stone museum is set in the ancient Romanesque chapel Saint-Nicolas, with the apse of the apse, adorned with a great Christ (th century fresco). The romantic garden is ideal for the scenes and lighting of the torchlight during the Night of Museums.

AJA now has its own museum. Following the screening of a film retracing the history of the club, which was founded in 1918, visitors can now discover its refurbished backstage area, with memories of every player who has played there (from Basile Boli to Eric Cantona, Djibril Cissé and many others), as well as its coaches and presidents (especially Guy Roux, of course!). Not to mention trophies such as the very first Coupe de France, in 1994. The icing on the cake is that you can even walk through the famous tunnel and sit right on the edge of the pitch!

The Abbaye du Val des Choues is an island in the middle of the Châtillonnais forest and falls under the great religious movement of the West of the 11th and 12th centuries. This building has as an authorizing officer Eudes III, duke of Burgundy in 1193. Inspired by Cistercian and Benedictine rules, Val des Choues scatters up to seventeen monasteries throughout Europe. Inès and Michel Monot invite you to come and join them to discover the boar hunting in their new museum opened in July 2017. Beyond its dramaturgy, you discover the history of hunting in the "Curograph of the equivalence of things and of the beings, animals and humans". The room of the temptation of trophies, echoes, silence, hallali, the workshop of the tailor and the opera of nature have been arranged in the Abbey with the contribution of contemporary artists. Every day, at 4 pm in the high season, do not miss the spectacular soup of dogs. The 150 dogs of tricoloured English-French breed by the crew Pique'avant-Bourgogne are waiting in silence for their master's signal. You will enjoy the gardens where Inès Monot offers basins, vases, flower boxes and Medici style sculptures to decorate your garden. During the season, two guest rooms are available.

The museum area of this dream train plunges you into the history of the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean railway. Through a beautiful staging, you will discover a collection of more than 300 period objects, scenes of life retracing the golden age of the rails from 1880 to 1950. You can see scenes from the life of the PLM, soldiers leaving or returning from the two world wars, and a collection of objects from the trenches: vases, lighters, and other things made with artillery shells by the soldiers while they were waiting in the trenches. In the middle of the countryside but only a few minutes from the charming town of Autun. The 1910 steam loco reminds us that all this was running, only the whistle is missing. A beautiful immersion!

In the heart of the city, under the arcades, the Mullet de Mullet's native apartment was returned and evokes, through explanatory panels, its major work, La Marseillaise, and its life, from birth in Lons-le-Saunier in 1760 until its death in 1836 in Choisy-le-Roi. You discover many original documents, personal objects: his sword, the violin bow of La Marseillaise… This place of memories is part of the Juramusées network. .

In Escolives, the Pierre Merlier museum presents some of the works of the artist born in Toutry (Côte-d'Or) in 1931 and died in Auxerre in 2017. Painter and sculptor on wood, he gave birth to a cohort of polychrome characters, long and extravagant. The artist had an ironic look at the world that he transposed into an expressionism that is very characteristic. It should be noted that, recently, in the manner of a library, a very original art library allows you to borrow one of his works and admire it at home before taking it home.

Heritage is not only made up of historic buildings, castles, churches or other weapons of war, it is also shaped by the objects of daily life used by our ancestors. The Jura Rural Heritage Association has saved the destruction of machines and tools that retrace transformations and the gradual modernization of agriculture. It has also reconstituted workshops and artisan shops that make us discover the many professions around the agricultural world: cheese cheesemakers, cobblers, sabotiers… All the objects displayed testify to a great ingenuity that it is important not to erase collective memory. A visit that carries out beautiful history lessons and helps us better understand today's rural world.

The Velleminfroy bottling plant and factory store are a must for mineral water lovers. For those wishing to learn more about how Velleminfroy mineral water is made, free guided tours of the bottling plant are available all year round. You can also extend your visit by discovering the showroom, where Velleminfroy water is showcased. The Renaissance space, which houses the bottling plant, also features an exhibition, a film on the history of Velleminfroy mineral water, a tasting session and a sales area. It should be noted, however, that the Renaissance area is only open to groups by appointment.

Its pink facades have not aged a bit. For good reason, the first Crédit Agricole de France, which was created in this spa in 1885, has undergone a complete facelift. Long abandoned, the establishment in front of the fairgrounds has been reborn from its ashes for two and a half years. It has been transformed into a museum. As a reminder, the creation of this first mutual structure was the work of Alfred Bouvet and Louis Milcent, encouraged by 72 people who were unable to finance their projects through banks. The approach is reminiscent of the spirit of county fruit farms generated by the avant-garde Jura farmers. The interior of the walls evokes the cooperative model that animated these pioneers, but it is also dedicated to the future. The complex is completed by a meeting room and is the headquarters of a foundation made available to the cooperative world in general.

The Othe region is the best place of pilgrimage for lovers of apple sparkling drinks. Between the hiking trails, it is therefore necessary to stop at the Apple and Cider Museum. There are presses and in particular a well preserved "parrot wheel". Your mission if you accept it: learn to recognize apples: one variety per made product! Tasting of the products at the exit: cider of course, but also apple juice and other specialities.

In the rural Bresse region, there's nothing more natural than a Maison de l'agriculture. It is organized in a space evoking the atmosphere of an old farmyard, with trompe-l'oeil decor. Step inside to discover the traditional activities of the Bresse countryside, the evolution of farming practices, including the use of the first tractors, and the various local PDOs and AOCs. Dioramas, panels and videos detail farming life, amid landscapes marked by cereal crops and poultry farming.