Musée de la Camargue, Museum in Arles, France
The Musée de la Camargue occupies the former sheepfold of the Mas du Pont-de-Rousty, a long single-storey building of pale squared stone with a pitched roof of reddish-brown curved tiles. Its right portion is dominated by a large round-arched doorway filled with light blue-grey vertical wooden planks, framed by a band of stone blocks. Inside, the permanent exhibition "Le fil de l'eau, le fil du temps en Camargue" presents the island and the Rhône delta through heritage collections, photographs, videos and sound.
The museum was founded in 1978 to document the environmental and cultural history of this marshy region. A major renovation in 2013 updated the exhibitions and facilities for modern visitors.
The museum opened in 1978 in the mas's sheepfold under the name Musée Camarguais, winning the European Museum Prize in 1979 for its scenography. It took its current name in 2003, when it received the Musée de France label. Its bookshop sells works on the Camargue and local craft objects.
The museum sits on flat land outside the city center, so having a vehicle is helpful, though walking trails in the area are accessible. It makes sense to arrive in the morning to have enough time for both the indoor exhibition and outdoor trails.
The discovery trail measures 3.5 km, not 5 km, and passes a reed hut (cabane de sagne), a marsh observatory and a bird-ringing station. It crosses rice fields, pastures, marshes, reed beds and sansouïre, the salt-tolerant grassland, changing with the seasons.
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