Musée du Quercorb
Museum in Puivert devoted to everyday life in the Quercorb and to medieval music, with a room of instruments reconstructed from the sculptures of the keep.
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About the museum
The Musée du Quercorb in Puivert presents itself as a museum of imagination and feeling. It evokes everyday life in the small region of the Quercorb, located between the Ariège and the upper Aude valley, and opens a window onto medieval music, from the troubadours to the ars nova.
Its Instrumentarium grew out of an experiment carried out from 1989 to 1991 by specialists in archaeology, medieval music, instrument making and museography. They reconstructed playable instruments based on the sculptures of the keep of Château de Puivert, carved in the 14th century. Nine instruments are displayed alongside casts of these sculptures, including the lute, the bowed vielle, the guiterne and the bagpipe (cornemuse).
The route also includes a troubadour room, where nine poems in Occitan can be heard, a history room with models of the castle and keep, and rooms on 20th-century trades: cooking, forge and cowbells (sonnailles), woodworking and distilling. An orchard of heritage fruit varieties completes the visit.
Highlights
- Instrumentarium: nine reconstructed medieval instruments
- Casts of the musician sculptures on the keep of Puivert
- Troubadour room with poems in Occitan
- Models of the castle and keep of Puivert
- 20th-century trades: forge, woodwork, distilling
- Orchard of heritage varieties
Permanent exhibitions
- Musique médiévale – l'Instrumentarium et la salle des troubadours – Instruments reconstructed from the sculptures of the keep of Puivert, and troubadour poems to listen to.
- Histoire du Quercorb – Room on the history of the Quercorb, its privileges and the lordly family of Puivert, with models of the castle.
- Métiers au 20e siècle – Traditional cooking, forge, cowbells, woodworking and distilling, with an orchard of heritage varieties.
- Operated by
- Communauté de communes Pyrénées Audoises
Admission & discounts
| Adults | €5 |
|---|---|
| Reduced | €4Reduced rate (eligible visitors are not specified on the website). |
| Children & teens | €2Rate for children aged 6 to 15. |
| Groups (10+ people) | €4 per personAdult groups from 10 people; children's groups up to 15 years: €2 per child. |
| Storytelling and singing visit, or other guided activity: adult | €6By reservation. |
| Storytelling and singing visit, or other guided activity: under 15 | €2By reservation. |
| Creative workshop for children aged 5 to 11 | €41 hour 30 minutes workshop in summer, by reservation. |
Accessibility
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Kids & families
Great for kids & families
- Family tours & workshops
Family treasure hunt with the animator (last Sunday of the month from April to June and in September, every Sunday at 11:00 in July and August, 1 hour 30 minutes), walks with the troubadours on Mondays in summer, and creative workshops for children aged 5 to 11 during the summer holidays. School groups from cycle 1 to cycle 4 (nursery to lower secondary) are welcome.
Getting there & parking
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Amenities & dining
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Guided tours | yes · approx. 1.5 hrs |
|---|---|
| School programs | yes |
| Good to know | Storytelling and singing visit with the museum's animator, lasting 1 hour 30 minutes, by reservation; in 2026, Thursdays at 15:00 (see the programme on the website). Two free apps are offered for the visit. Guided tours and tailor-made activities are available for groups, and can be combined with a visit to Château de Puivert. |
