Heritage House of Villard-de-Lans, Heritage museum in former town hall at Villard-de-Lans, France.

The Maison du patrimoine occupies the former town hall of Villard-de-Lans, built in 1888 on the Place de la Libération. The two-storey building has a light beige facade, blue shutters and a grey hipped roof crowned by a square clock tower with dormers along the roofline. Inside, two ground-floor rooms flank the reception desk for temporary exhibitions, while the two upper levels hold documents, photographs and videos on the daily life of plateau artisans and farmers.

The building was constructed in 1888 as the town hall and served that purpose for more than a century. A local collector later opened it as a museum to preserve knowledge about the region's past.

The museum's name comes from its mission: the building served as Villard-de-Lans' town hall, or maison communale, until 1986, and the inscription above the door still reads that way. Local resident Jacques Lamoure, passionate about the history of his commune and the Quatre-Montagnes country, pushed for the museum, which opened in 1989. Temporary shows each year take up the region's past, from skiing to the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics.

The building sits in the town center and its historic architecture makes it easy to spot when walking through the village. Visiting on a weekday afternoon provides a quieter experience and better natural light for viewing the displays.

The museum holds one of France's largest collections of ox yokes: 133 pieces, too many to display at once, so only the most notable are shown in one room. The collection was assembled through the interest of Jacques Lamoure, the Villard-de-Lans resident who founded the museum.