Maison de l'Ardoise, museum in France
The Maison de l'Ardoise is a museum housed in a former power station in Rimogne that documents the slate mining industry in the region. The museum features an interactive route where visitors use tablets guided by recorded voices to learn about extraction methods and miners' daily lives.
Slate mining in the Rimogne region began in the Middle Ages and continued for more than 800 years until the mines closed in the 1970s. The museum itself is housed in a former power station dating from when the industry was still operating.
The name refers to slate, the dark stone that was extracted locally and shaped the community for centuries. Walking through Rimogne today, you notice old worker housing and industrial remnants that are still woven into the village's appearance and identity.
The museum is located at 96 Rue Jean Jaurès in Rimogne with free parking available nearby. Visiting is easiest during school holidays when it opens daily, but during school periods weekday access requires advance booking and weekend hours are more flexible.
The main shaft descends 185 meters underground and is visible during the visit, offering an impressive sense of the scale of mining operations. The site also houses a Fab Lab with modern 3D printing equipment where local creators and the public can learn to work with slate in innovative ways.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
