The Museum of the Marseille region : A Tribute to Provence

The Museum of the Marseille region :
a tribute to Provence

By Julie Verdiers

An hour from downtown Marseilles, at Château Gombert, the Museum of the Marseille region (Le Musée du Terroir Marseillais) boasts of a veritable treasure of arts heritage and popular traditions of Provence. In an unassuming location, with an ordinary frontage in the shade of trees on a small square in the village, the museum hosts immense treasures whose current jewel is the temporary exhibition on Provencal women's clothing from 17th and 18th centuries to the present day.

The witnessing of a past made vividly present

As a worthy heir to the writer Alphonse Daudet, Julien Pignol let his passion speak through his collection of antique objects to set up his country house, at the height of his dreams and his love for the Provence traditions. When Julien Pignol died, he bequeathed this residence to the village. Now it has become a popular attraction and a memorable place where the Provencal art of living is perpetuated, transformed into an exhibition gallery, where the collections and works will remain engraved in memory for a long time.
One discovers the past in this captivating place, steeped in tradition, and visitors can share the emotions that emerge. One lingers long in front of the depiction of a Christmas meal of a forgotten era, with the traditional family where the “papé”, emblematic family figure proudly dominating the table, almost lives again. This character who throws a protective glance on his family is the founder incarnate of the family: Grandfather, a man of morals with a warm and benevolent smile, a willing victim of our childhood pranks. Recalling these timeless moments of tenderness, the chimney fire and the children's laughter… Memories emerge from this family table and take us back to a bygone era, so tender, presenting evidence of the affection which made us grow.
How can one not be compelled to belong to this bygone world and to re-live and share its golden moments? On discovering the room with a chimney where the Latin proverb of the founder of this house states: “Labor improbus omnia vincit” (With work and persistence one succeeds), one lets oneself submerge in a wave of melancholy of an ancestral history evoked by the 13 Xmas calendar desserts; unforgettable also is the charitable spirit of sheltering the poor, all suffused by tradition. This place of life, of unforgettable souvenir, of ancient objects passed on through centuries, is where reality and illusion intermingle for visitors eager to submerge into a dream world and experience nostalgia while traveling through a world that has disappeared. Almost like a machine transporting you back in time, this site abounds in old treasures which take us far away from our daily materialistic life.
Children's toys, women's caps, symbols of social recognition, larders or kitchens, called in Provence as “la gatouille”… All these lead to a desire to re-live in the sepia colored past at this very instance. The fuzzy image of these people, unknown to us, but who resemble us so much, invites us into their lives for a momentary escape. By opening a majestic door of the Louis 14th era, the dream universe continues and helps us travel through centuries. This door opens to an ancient time and brings us to the Renaissance period with the collection of women’s garments adorned by crystal beams of a shining Napoleon III chandelier.
One wonders, then, which unknown beauty wore this boutis or this Indian wrap, brought from India on Louis 14th’s galleys. One imagines living one of these ladies’ adventures who wore these Cinderella-like dresses, in which they ardently awaited their prince charming, and one experiences reality akin to turning the pages of an old book. One thinks of these imaginary young girls, but so real in our eyes, as if one is in a fantasy of epic heroines--femme fatales, fragile, combative, in love, strong, who model our feminine ideal, ideal which one wishes to attain but rarely with success.

A growing attractiveness

Thanks to the generous donations of the village, with a rich heritage, the museum is in search of a bigger audience. To charm visitors and fill them with wonders of the past of Provence, the visit is enriched by a typical Provençal meal which, by a simple glance on the menu, invites us towards one of the tables of this cordial restaurant. Bed & Breakfast rooms, decorated in Provençal style, entice visitors to continue the dream and to plunge into the heart and soul of Provence.
Indexed in the guides, its doors are open also to students and foreign tourists eager to learn about the Marseilles art of living and who are attracted by the exhibition of the ladies' garments which remind them of Marie-Antoinette.
The visit becomes attractive when one partakes in the activities suggested, in particular the cooking courses, especially the preparation of the famous “pieds paquets”, the courses of Provençal language, earthenware, the santon workshops… An exhaustive program to immerse oneself into this world and to initiate oneself to the customs which have traversed centuries without a wrinkle.
Many developments are envisaged outside: the construction of an open-air theater to exhibit agrarian instruments and a project to exhibit sacred art. The goal is to add value to this site, highlighted by the Massif Etoile range, which gives a natural and original beauty to this museum, by leading the visitors to open themselves to a different perspective and another world. But especially, to embellish an already rich tradition and to reveal the authenticity of this museum which reminds us of a period unfortunately forgotten.
Let us hope that a patron will linger long in front of this captivating and bewitching museum and help it to further develop its authenticity.