Museum of Cerdagne, Children's museum in Sainte-Léocadie, France

The Museum of Cerdagne is housed in Cal Mateu, a farmhouse from the 18th century that displays exhibits on agriculture and the regional heritage of the Pyrenees. The building keeps its original structure where you can see the rooms and work areas that once made up family life.

Cal Mateu takes its name from Mathieu Riu, a wealthy Barcelona merchant who bought the farm in 1811 after a fire during the Napoleonic wars. Before that it belonged to the Sicart family: François Sicart, notary of Saillagouse and clerk of the Viguerie, became viguier of Cerdagne thirty years after the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, and the title stayed in the family until the French Revolution. The farm was both the viguier's residence and the seat of royal administration.

The collection shows how people in Cerdagne worked and lived through objects and displays that reveal their connection to the mountain landscape. You see how family and community developed here over generations.

The museum occupies Cal Mateu, a walled farmhouse arranged around a central courtyard: the rendered logis stands to the north, the farm building and the kitchen garden to the south. Granite frames the doors and windows, while schist forms the walls and roofs. Guided tours and educational activities run throughout the year, so check times before setting out.

The museum has a traditional vegetable garden at high altitude that grows old plant varieties adapted to the mountain region. This garden shows how people in Cerdagne grew food on difficult terrain.