Musée de l'ardoise, Slate mining museum in Trélazé, Maine-et-Loire, France
The Musée de l'ardoise is a museum in Trélazé that documents the history of slate mining in the region. It displays mining tools, rock samples, and equipment that show how slate was extracted and worked over many centuries.
The region started mining slate around 600 years ago and grew into an important center for this industry. The museum itself was founded in 1984 by former workers to preserve this craft and its importance to the area.
The museum keeps the memory of the fendeurs, the slate splitters who worked the Angers-Trélazé deposit. Two of them still demonstrate cutting and splitting before visitors, and the annual Fête des Perreyeux is devoted to the slate trades. The collection includes costumes, photographs, sound archives and objects made of slate.
The site covers 3 hectares at 32 chemin de la Maraîchère, southeast of Angers, near bus line 1 at the Trélazé - Ménard stop. The walking route through the old quarries and the slate-splitting demonstrations are outdoors, so allow time for both. The museum is run by the Amis de l'Ardoise with a small staff, so check opening days before coming.
The museum keeps a miner transport cabin and an elevator cage from the shafts, alongside wagons, machines and tools. Two splitter workers give slate-splitting demonstrations, and the association holds an annual Fête des Perreyeux devoted to slate trades. Since 2015 it buys eight tonnes of slate a year from the Angers dealer Larivière.
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