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

Ecomuseo della canapa di Champorcher

Ecomuseum in the Maison Thomas at Chardonney: a stable with a rare 13th-century wooden loom for hemp weaving, kitchen, cellar and raccard; free admission.

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About the museum

The ecomuseum is housed in the Maison Thomas, in the village of Chardonney, in Champorcher. The name derives from the nickname of the owning family. The Comune bought the old house in 2000 because it was the only one that still preserved the old loom, which had escaped destruction in past decades, and turned it into an ecomuseum of hemp and Alpine architecture.

On the ground floor the stable is visited, where there is a rare horizontal loom made entirely of wood, of archaic technology and datable to at least the 13th century; next to it are the kitchen with its hearth, also used for making cheese, and the cellar where cream was left to rise. On an intermediate floor is the modern workshop for handweaving hemp of the Lou Dzeut cooperative, while under the roof is the raccard (a traditional granary) built of larch logs, used for threshing rye and storing straw, hay and seed.

The loom has been restored and balanced so that it works during demonstrations. Fibre-optic lighting recreates the dim light of winter, when people and animals shared the stable, with background sounds of cows, prayers and the loom. The visit is part of the museum of the village of Chardonney, which also includes the Glair mill, the oven, the chapel and the old school.

Highlights

Rare horizontal loom made entirely of wood, at least 13th century
Lived-in stable with kitchen, cellar and raccard
Lou Dzeut hemp weaving workshop
Glair mill, oven, chapel and old school in the same village
Free admission

Permanent exhibition

Ecomuseo della canapa e dell'architettura alpina – Stable with the historic wooden loom, kitchen, cellar and raccard of the Maison Thomas, with weaving demonstrations.