Photo: Encolpe · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Musée des pilhaouerien et du recteur

Museum housed in the former presbytery of Loqueffret, dedicated to the traveling rag-collectors of the Monts d'Arrée and to the life of a Breton parish rector in the 19th century.

Opening hours

Directions

Musée des pilhaouerien et du recteurOpening hours

About the museum

Until the mid-20th century, some of the poor peasants of the Monts d'Arrée supplemented their income by collecting old rags beyond the massif to supply the region's paper mills. These itinerant traders, known as pilhaouerien, went from farm to farm with earthenware (bowls, plates, porringers), which they exchanged for fabric, sheets and rags. They sang and told stories to make it easier to be let through the doors.

At the end of the 19th century, the rector (parish priest) of Loqueffret composed a satirical song about these rag-collectors. The museum is housed in the former presbytery, near the 16th-century church, which is listed as a historic monument.

The exhibition also traces the life of a Breton country priest and his parishioners in the 19th century, the parish organization of the rural communes of Lower Brittany, and the role of the rector, who was often of peasant origin and acted as an intermediary between the inhabitants and the Church. The museum is one of the facilities of the Armorique Regional Natural Park.

Highlights

Exhibition on the pilhaouerien, traveling rag-collectors of the Monts d'Arrée
Life of a country priest and his parishioners in the 19th century
Setting of the former presbytery, near the 16th-century church
Satirical song by the rector of Loqueffret about the rag-collectors

Permanent exhibition

Les pilhaouerien et le recteur – Exhibition on the traveling rag-collectors of the Monts d'Arrée and on the life of a Breton country priest and his parishioners in the 19th century.