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An exceptional place of remembrance where the arts, sciences and technical innovations in industry come together.
The source of the Grenoble region's economic boom, hydroelectricity is a renewable energy whose mysteries are revealed at La Maison Bergès. It's a unique place where the techniques imagined by engineer Aristide Bergès at the end of the 19th century to harness the power of water from the Alps meet the arts, bathed in the spirit of the Belle Époque. Younger visitors will appreciate the Brick Hydro exhibition, where they can see how water energy is transformed into electricity.
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Opening time and information on MAISON BERGÈS (WHITE COAL MUSEUM)
The Maison Bergès is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, January 1st, May 1st and December 25th. From April 1st to October 31st: 1pm-6pm from Wednesday to Friday, 10am-6pm Saturday and Sunday. November 1 to March 31: 1:30-5:30 pm Wednesday to Friday, 10:00 am-5:30 pm Saturday and Sunday. Free admission to the museum and the park. Guided tour (guided tour for groups: please book with the museum reception desk by telephone at least three weeks before the desired date in order to guarantee the availability of a professional guide).
Owner's Message
Between Grenoble and Chambéry, at the foot of the Belledonne massif, the Maison Bergès is located on the site of the former Lancey paper mill, the birthplace of "Houille blanche" (hydroelectricity). In an eclectic residence, with a style marked by Art Nouveau, the museum highlights a technical and artistic history that bears witness to the innovations of the engineer and paper maker Aristide Bergès (1833-1904).
The Bergès House is part of the network of 11 museums of the Isère department. Completely renovated, it welcomes the public in the warm atmosphere of the Belle Epoque. The permanent dialogue between art and industry highlights the curiosity at work in the early 20th century. In keeping with the spirit of the place, the Maison Bergès offers temporary exhibitions each year that explore a history of techniques and innovation, art and architecture, water and paper.
Audioguide available in French and English.
Free admission to the 11 museums of the Isère department.
Our offers and services
"Inspiration", an all-paper installation at the Maison Bergès
From 2023-04-01 at 2023-09-17
An original creation by the company Les Effets Papillon
The company Les Effets Papillon deploys its paper creations under the glass roof of the Maison Bergès.
The duo of creators formed by Angélique Cormier and Pierre-Adrien Théo works with music, digital art and origami to give life to original installations.
Inspiration invites contemplation and breathing.
The gaze rests on the suspended installation that unfolds and folds in the air we breathe. A slow and sensitive choreography draws the space in which we find ourselves: the foldings become a mirror of our own breathing.
Inspiration as a fundamental organic movement, inspiration as an impulse of creativity and invention: this is the double allegory that Les Effets Papillon proposes to us in this original creation imagined for the Maison Bergès. A place inhabited by the scientific and poetic research of its founder, the duo echoes this double exploration, by combining digital art with the art of origami, by translating an organic fact - breathing - into a poetic and aesthetic act.
Workshops and visits on the theme of folded paper
Among the proposed appointments, workshops of artistic practice will invite the public to create origami animated by the energy of folded paper. The school offer will be particularly aimed at elementary school.
Heritage Days 2023
A performance-meeting with the company Les Effets Papillon is planned for the European Heritage Days (Sunday September 17).
Gustave Eiffel. The ingenious engineer.
From 2023-09-30 at 2024-03-03
Aristide Bergès welcomed into his home the most famous of his classmates from the Ecole Centrale...
On the occasion of the centenary of the death of Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), the Maison Bergès takes an interest in this character with an extraordinary destiny. The exhibition highlights the creativity and audacity of Gustave Eiffel, whose career illustrates the path of these new engineers, born of the industrial revolutions. Alongside well-known metal architecture, the exhibition reveals the secret of Eiffel's constructions and reminds us of the existence of works in the Grenoble area that are now forgotten.
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