History Museum "Jean Garcin", History museum in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, France
The musée Jean Garcin 39-45 : l'appel de la liberté is a history museum in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, France, dedicated to life during World War II. It occupies a former paper factory and uses cinematic sets to show daily life, the Resistance, and wartime arts and letters.
The museum opened in 1990 in a former paper factory, built around a collection of over 10,000 objects gathered by Raymond Granier. It was renamed in 2006 after Jean Garcin, a former Resistance member and local leader who initiated the project.
The ground floor reconstructs a town hall, a school, a kitchen, a grocery and a bookshop of the Occupation years, staged as film sets by decorator Willy Holt. Upstairs, the Resistance in Vaucluse is told through networks, operations and recorded testimonies, alongside clandestine publications and manuscripts by René Char, Paul Éluard and Georges Rouault.
The museum is found along the road to the gouffre, a short walk from the village center. Allow enough time to explore both floors, and note that groups can visit by appointment throughout the year.
The ground-floor displays were designed by Willy Holt, a film set decorator, giving the rooms a look inspired by 1930s poetic realism. The museum also holds a large collection of clandestine publications and manuscripts by writers and artists involved in the Resistance.
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