Écomusée de la combe de Savoie, Open-air museum in Grésy-sur-Isère, France
The Écomusée de la Combe de Savoie is an open-air museum in Grésy-sur-Isère, a village set above the Isère valley in Savoie. The site covers the whole village and brings together old stone buildings along with around 8,000 objects such as tools, furniture, and farming equipment.
The village of Grésy-sur-Isère and its old buildings are part of a rural world that changed very little over the centuries. The ecomuseum was created as a project to preserve this local way of life before industrialization erased the last traces of it.
The Écomusée de la Combe de Savoie is made up of around twenty stone buildings, each with its own former use: a carpentry workshop, a forge, a schoolroom, a mill. Walking from one to the next gives a clear sense of how daily life was organized in a rural Savoyard village.
The museum is on the Chemin des carrières du salin in Grésy-sur-Isère, reachable via the A43 highway at the Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny exit or via the N90. Since the site covers the whole village, comfortable shoes are a good idea and it is worth setting aside enough time for a relaxed visit.
The ecomuseum still has a working traditional bread oven, and during some events visitors can watch the baking process and taste the results. The waterwheel of the old mill also still turns during demonstrations, giving a rare chance to see both in action on the same visit.
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