Musée des Traditions Populaires

This museum in Olonne-sur-Mer holds objects and tools from early 20th-century life in this French coastal region. Six exhibition rooms display original artifacts that tell the story of how people worked, lived, and went about their daily routines back then.

The building started as a school in 1891, serving students for many decades before becoming a museum. A local group formed in 1988 to preserve regional memories, leading to the museum's opening in 1991.

The name honors the people who lived here and their daily ways of working - you see handcrafted tools, forgotten trades, and a classroom frozen in time. The rooms reveal how salt workers, winegrowers, and farmers spent their days and how children learned their lessons.

The best time to visit is when the weather is nice, so you can also explore the area around it. Plan for about an hour or two to walk through all the rooms and check ahead for current opening times.

On heritage celebration days, volunteers stage old wedding ceremonies and demonstrate how craftspeople worked with their hands long ago. These hands-on displays bring to life forgotten skills and rituals that were once central to this region's way of living.

Location: Olonne-sur-Mer

Location: Les Sables-d'Olonne

Address: 30 Rue Général Charette, 85340 Les Sables-d'Olonne, France

Opening Hours: Tuesday 14:30-17:30; June,September Monday,Wednesday-Friday 14:30-17:30; July-August Monday-Friday 15:00-18:30; July-August Tuesday,Thursday 10:00-12:00,15:00-18:30

Phone: +33251969553

Website: https://museedestraditionspopulaires.com

GPS coordinates: 46.53774,-1.77695

Latest update: December 6, 2025 19:06