Ecomusée de Marquèze, Open-air museum in Sabres, France.
The Ecomusée de Marquèze is an open-air museum in Sabres featuring a fully reconstructed 19th-century village with traditional buildings, farms, and period agricultural equipment. The site is organized to show how a rural settlement was laid out, with different buildings serving various purposes in daily life.
The museum was founded in 1969 by the Landes de Gascogne Regional Nature Park and documents how moorlands gradually transformed into forest landscapes. This shift shaped how people adapted their way of life and their relationship with the land.
The site shows how shepherd-farmers lived and worked through authentic buildings, period furnishings, and people demonstrating regional crafts throughout the grounds. You can see the tools, spaces, and activities that were part of everyday rural life in this region.
The museum offers wheelchair loans, walking canes, and seating canes at the reception area, with accessible pathways throughout. Plan to spend time exploring at a relaxed pace, as the grounds are spread across a wide area.
Visitors reach the museum grounds aboard a dedicated small train that carries them directly into the reconstructed village setting. This journey itself becomes part of the experience, easing the transition into the historical environment.
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