Centre minier de Faymoreau

About the museum

The Faymoreau coalfield was mined from 1827. For about 130 years, miners worked there extracting coal until the pits closed in 1958. The mining centre tells both the industrial history of this activity and the everyday life of the residents of the mining village, with its corons, its chapel and its stained-glass windows.

The museum has held the “Musée de France” label since 2003 and is part of the network of the Conservation des musées de Vendée. After twenty-one months of closure for an extension and renovation carried out from 2016 to 2018, it reopened on June 30, 2018, with new exhibition rooms, a shop and a larger reception area. The site is run by the Communauté de communes Vendée Sèvre Autise.

The route has seven stages: the history of coal in Vendée and the Deux-Sèvres, the miner's path from the changing room to the mine, the pithead with the reconstructed mine, the uses of coal, working conditions, life in the miners' housing and geology. The hanging room (salle des pendus), where miners hung up their clothes, the reconstructed mine and the pithead are among the highlights of the visit. The centre received the Destination d'excellence label in 2025.

Highlights

• Reconstructed mine and descent past the lamp room
• Hanging room (salle des pendus), miners' changing room
• Pithead (carreau) and Puits Bernard
• Mining village with its corons and the chapel's stained-glass windows
• Objects to handle, tactile models and subtitled films

Permanent exhibitions

• Parcours du musée de la mine – Seven-stage route from the history of coal to the miners' changing room, the reconstructed mine, working conditions, the corons and geology.
• Le village et ses corons – Tour of the mining village, its workers' housing and the chapel with its stained-glass windows.

Operated by

Communauté de communes Vendée Sèvre Autise

Admission & discounts

Free admission with an ICOM card, a press card or a membership card of the Association du Pays Minier 2026. Payment by cash, cheque, bank card, Chèque Culture, Chèques Vacances (ANCV) and Pass Culture.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum route is fully accessible, with lifts on all levels, an adapted reception desk and toilets, plus benches and stools for resting. Access is adapted but has a slight slope, and the heavy entrance door must be kept open. A reserved space is in front of the reception and another near the chapel; the chapel is accessible except for the choir. Tactile models, objects to touch and Braille texts for blind and visually impaired visitors; subtitled films and a visitor guide for deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors. The mine's lighting can be strengthened to reassure visitors.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Baby changing facilities

Activity booklet for 7- to 12-year-olds and a booklet for 3- to 6-year-olds, free at reception, plus a galibot (young miner) costume for children from age 3. Activities during school holidays, such as workshops and LEGO building sessions. Objects to handle (miner's equipment, lamp, fossils) and tactile models.

Getting there & parking

Address: La Cour, 85240 Faymoreau. The centre holds the Accueil Vélo label; a 12 km hiking trail, “le chemin de la mine”, starts from the village.

Amenities & dining

• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop
• Lockers
• Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi, lockers, a drinking fountain and a museum shop with books at the museum. There is no restaurant in the village: a picnic area with four tables is behind the Hôtel des Mines, and the nearest restaurant is less than 10 minutes away.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit