History of the collection

At the moment, the Museum of the Nantes vineyard possesses a collection of more than 2700 objects regarding the traditional know-how of the Nantes vineyard. These objects deal with the vine-growing, the agriculture, the wine-making process, the popular arts and traditions and Pierre Abelard, a philosopher born in Le Pallet. How was this collection born?

The first Museum of the Nantes vineyard

1979 : setting up of a museum by the cultural association "Pierre Abelard", in the chapel of Le Pallet, to commemorate the ninth centenary of Pierre Abelard's birth (1079-1142), a philosopher born in Le Pallet.

1981 : the association diversifies its researches to know more about the local history, to collect various objects (for the future collection) and to open the first Museum of the Nantes vineyard, in the same chapel.

1981 - 1995 : improvement of collections thanks to a lot of donations from people living in Le Pallet and the little towns nearby and to some purchases.

The present Museum of the Nantes vineyard

1992 : construction of a contemporary building, by the architect Jean-Claude Pondevie, to receive the collection.

1995 : donation of the collections from the cultural association "Pierre Abelard" to the Nantes vineyard region association.

1995 - Today : the initial collection of 1100 objects has been gradually enriched thanks to donations, buyings and collections. Since 2008, a counting of the collection has been made. A control carried out every decade is compulsory for the museums which received the label "Musée de France" by the Ministry of Culture. This process consists in checking the presence of each object of the collection and the conformity with its registration to the inventory. Because of this control, a study of the objects which were given to the Museum, but which had not been registered to the inventory, is in progress. The work on these objects, called "study collection", is going to give better information about the collection and to precise their future (registration to the inventory, use as teaching materials…).