Musée Hippolyte-Henry

About the museum

The Trou Babet wash-house was established in Fontenay-Trésigny around 1781. In 1910, mayor Hippolyte Henry, first a teacher and then town clerk, had public baths built beside it for the working-class population; they opened in 1911. Very popular, they were used until the 1960s–1970s, when the first social housing with running water was built. From the 1980s until 2016, the building housed the town’s association library.

The Cercle Historique Fontenaisien, an association founded in November 2005, had included the creation of an ecomuseum in its statutes. After years of collecting old objects and thanks to donations, the association set up its museum in the former baths from 2016 onwards. 2017 was devoted to bringing the 100 m² premises up to standard and fitting them out; the inauguration took place on December 2, 2017, and the museum opened to the public on January 20, 2018.

The museum offers a journey back to the Brie of a century ago, with 1,200 objects from everyday life: family, water and the wash-house, traditional trades, the school in 1900, the cafés and the castles of the town. Temporary exhibitions also address local subjects, such as the parish of Saint-Martin or the tramway from Jouy-le-Châtel to Marles-en-Brie, nicknamed the “Tacot”.

Highlights

• 1,200 objects from everyday life in a Brie village around 1900
• Area devoted to water, the Trou Babet wash-house and the public baths
• Traditional trades: clog maker, tinker, knife-grinder, wine grower
• Richly documented school room from 1900
• The 1911 bathhouse building

Permanent exhibitions

• La vie quotidienne d'une famille vers 1900 – Everyday objects from around 1900: early childhood, cooking, heating, lighting, sewing and tableware.
• L'eau sous toutes ses formes – Area on the Trou Babet wash-house, the public baths and the stages of washing in earlier times.
• L'école et l'enfance en 1900 – Recreation of a late 19th-century school day, with books, programmes and writing with a quill pen.

Founded

2018

Operated by

Cercle Historique Fontenaisien (association)

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

Fontenay-Trésigny is at the heart of the Brie, about 40 kilometres from Paris, and is reached via the national roads RN4 and RN36. The museum is in the town centre, Place du 19 Mars 1962, at the roundabout of Boulevard Étienne Hardy and Rue Pillot.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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