Musée de l'école du Monastier
Former boys’ boarding school from 1896, now a museum: old-fashioned classrooms and an animated visit with smock, pen and abacus.
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About the museum
The building was constructed in 1896 as the Saint-Joseph boarding school, a private boys’ school in the main town of the canton. It included four classrooms, a dining hall, a 300 m² dormitory and the headmaster’s office, with a stove in each classroom. The school could accommodate up to around one hundred boys and closed in 1971, when it became co-educational.
The site was turned into a museum of rural school life from the late nineteenth century to the 1980s. According to Wikipedia, it opened to the public on May 1, 2013, after a couple bought the disused school and recreated the classrooms from before 1960.
The collections comprise hundreds of objects: school furniture, smocks for boys and girls, wooden satchels, posters and object-lesson cards, quills, pen holders, inkwells, slates, textbooks, advertising rulers and more than 4,000 post-war advertising blotters. The site also has a souvenir shop and a gîte d’étape (a simple lodging for walkers).
Highlights
- Old-style classrooms with desks, slates and inkwells
- More than 4,000 post-war advertising blotters
- Animated visit: smock, beret, moral lesson, quill writing and abacus calculation
- Dormitory and dining hall of the former boarding school
- Souvenir shop with school items
Permanent exhibition
- Salles de classe et collections d'autrefois – School furniture, smocks, satchels, quills, slates, textbooks and advertising blotters tell the story of a century of education, from the late 19th century to the 1980s.
- Founded
- 2013
Admission & discounts
| Adults | €9 |
|---|---|
| Children & teens | €8Child rate for the animated visit for ages 6 to 13. |
| Groups (15+ people) | €8 per personRate per person for groups of 15 or more. |
Prices for the animated visit, offered for groups of at least 8 people. No family rate is listed.
Accessibility
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Kids & families
Great for kids & families
- Family tours & workshops
- Hands-on stations
The animated part of the visit is designed for children as well as adults (child rate for ages 6 to 13).
Getting there & parking
By car
Free parking
Free parking.
Amenities & dining
- Museum shop
Souvenir shop with school items (quills, inkwells, games, the teacher’s beret). Gîte d’étape on site.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Guided tours | yes · approx. 1.5 hrs |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Visit of about 1 hour 30 minutes in two parts: a guided presentation of the rooms and equipment, then an animated part in which visitors put on a smock and a beret, follow a moral lesson, write with a quill, recite, sing and calculate with an abacus. |
