This ancient fortress, never conquered, is classed as a Historical Monument. From the high ramparts, the panorama over the city, the Sanctuaires and the Pyrénées, is exceptional. At the foot of the XIVth century keep, there is a botanical garden with unique miniatures. In the Museum, known as the Museum of France, visit the largest collections on the history of the French and Spanish Pyrenees The castle fort and its Pyrenean museum 25, rue du Fort 65100 LOURDES Tel : +33 (0)5-62-42-37-37 Fax : +33 (0)5-62-42-37-44 Email : chateaufort.museepyreneen@orange.fr Plan d'accès

opening hours
open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday by arrangement from 09.00 to 11.30 and from 14.00 to 16.00.

Contact: Agnès MENGELLE tel: 05.62.42.37.37
Scientific adviser and curator

charges for 2008
Photocopies
- A4 format: …………………………………………………. 0.20 €
- A3 format: …………………………………………………. 0.40 €

Copies on disk
- compact (CDR): ................................................................ 1.50 €
- video (DVD): ..................................................................... 2.00 €

Photography*
- for public use for commercial purposes: 25.00 € per photo, copies of all photos must be submitted (CD ROM, negative or paper print)

- for private or public use for non-financial purposes: copies of all photos must be submitted (CD ROM, negative or paper print)
* The town of Lourdes reserves rights to all photos submitted.

Filming*
- for public use for commercial purposes: 100.00 € per film: a master must be submitted
- for public or public use for non-financial purposes: a master must be assigned
* The town of Lourdes reserves the right to use images for cultural, non profit-making purposes

Bookings

. Guided tours
Contact : Marie-Pierre BARRERE
Tel : +33 (0).62.42.37.37

Other museum services

Scientific centre: open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday by arrangement: from 9.00 to 11.30 and from 14.00 to 16.00
Contact : Agnès MENGELLE
Tel : +33 (0).62.42.37.37
Scientific adviser and curator

The shop stocks : postcards, a selection of books for children and adults, products based on the collections
Tel : +33 (0).62.42.37.41 / Fax : +33 (0).62.94.55.23

Accessibility

Accessibility to the site for handicapped persons is one of our priorities, please contact us for details of the facilities available.

Technical overview

Created in 1921, the Pyrenean Museum, which carries a «Museum of France» seal of approval, can be found in the fortified castle of Lourdes, which is itself a listed «Historical Monument».

The museum houses over 3,000 objects that recount the daily life of the inhabitants of the mountain valleys, on both French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees, during the 19th and 20th centuries, and over 2,000 objects and documents relating to the discovery of the Pyrenees as a tourist destination and the conquest of their summits.

More broadly speaking, and to quote the museum’s founder, Louis Le Bondidier, «Nothing that is Pyrenean should be unfamiliar to us».

Ethnographic collections notably comprise a large collection relating to the pastoral way of life and mountain agriculture (utensils used in the making of cheese and transportation of milk, cow bells, scratch-ploughs, yokes, etc.), as well as regional furniture, domestic objects and an assortment of costumes from different Pyrenean valleys, a series of tools relating to numerous activities, especially weaving and stone cutting, as well as an exceptional collection of sculpted wood pieces called «surjougs» or yoke bells.  An original collection of mourning candles is also exhibited.

Decorative arts and religious art are particularly represented through a hundred or so pieces of Samadet earthenware and a collection of Baroque religious furniture.

The Scientific Centre: an important place set up at the time of the museum’s establishment for the research and acquisition of documentary items whose wealth of information is greatly appreciated by the specialists.

On the one hand, it brings together regional ethnographic documentation concerning the Pyrenees and, on the other hand, a unique Pyrenean collection focussing on practices and perspectives of the mountains, voyages, scientific observations or accounts of mountain climbs.

A manual with alphabetic, thematic or geographic cross-references enables research to be carried out among the 14,000 items, works and brochures, from the 17th century to the present.

The Collections

Documentary resources

1. Printed collection:

- More than 60 periodical publications : among them the most well-known of magazines, for example the Alpine Journal (1863), the Ramond Society Bulletin (1866), the French Alpine Club Directory (1874), the Catalonia Excursion Centre Bulletin (1878), the Pyrenean Bulletin (1896) (previously the Béarn Excusion Society magazine and today the Pyrénées), as well as for ethnological interest, the magazines The Tradition (1889) and French Folklore.

- A collection consecrated to the Apparitions in Lourdes (1858)

- Ramond de Carbonnières’ private library with 480 volumes, the diversity of which illustrates the extent of the culture and curiosity of the man known as the father of «Pyreneism» : Geography and Travels, History, Science, Literature, Religion, Sociology or Law.

- The private library of Louis Baquerisse, dedicated to Occitan literature and civilisation, brings together nearly everything that has been written in Occitan from the time of the Renaissance to the foundation of the Félibrige school of literature in 1854 in Provence, and later the printed works of poets and writers in the Oc language, up to the eve of the Second World War.

2. Collection of archives and manuscripts:

This is a large collection mostly gathered from the acquisition of collections formed by famous Pyrénéistes, men of science, geodesists and mountaineers.  It is also linked to the history of Lourdes, Bigorre and even various parts of the Pyrenees, both in France and Spain.  No only does the collection include books, but there are also numerous manuscripts and archives, logbooks or sketchbooks, letters and various papers, sometimes even objects belonging to an author.

2.1 The military history of Lourdes and the Hautes- Pyrenees Department

- The Bellegarde Collection (1718-1776): this collection concerns the family of one of Lourdes Castle’s governors in the 18th century and comprises 8 compilations containing contracts, procedural documents and accounts and especially a great deal of correspondence dating from the second half of the 18th century to the first part of the 19th century.  Another collection brings together thirty or so items relating to the lawsuits and complaints lodged by prisoners held in the fortified castle of Lourdes under the Ancien Régime.

- The Maransin Collection: papers belonging to a soldier of the Revolution and general of the Empire, a son of the town of Lourdes.  7 boxes of archives dating from 1812 to 1817.

- The Military Engineering Collection: particularly concerns the restoration work carried out by 19th century engineers on the fortified castle.

- The Larrey Collection(1766-1842): from the village of Baudéan in the Hautes-Pyrenees, the famous chief surgeon of the Great Army, Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842) followed Napoleon in most of his campaigns.  Various papers and numerous letters.

2.2 Regional history

- The Jean Bourdette Collection: historian from Lavedan (20th century). Numerous notes, 16 compilations and a 4-volume essay (manuscript) on Gascony vocabulary in Lavedan.

2.3 Collections of the Pyrénéistes  

- The Ramond de Carbonnières Collection : the famous «Observations made in the Pyrenees», appeared in 1789, and, in a way, signalled the birth of Pyrénéisme, the study and exploration of the Pyrenean mountains. In 1796, Ramond was named professor of natural history at the new Central School of Tarbes and he explored the Pyrenees, publishing his «Voyages au Mount Perdido» in 1801.  Deputy of the Corps Législatif, member of the French Academy of Science in 1802, then prefect of Puy-de-Dôme in 1806, he was, under the Restoration, elected to the Conseil d’Etat as a high-ranking magistrate and died in Paris in 1827.  Louis Le Bondidier proudly observed in his 1922 programme : «From Ramond we have books, manuscripts, books filled with notes, sketches and caricatures, his etchings and copper engravings, his bust, family portraits, his French Academy sword, decorations, scientific instruments, his desk and letter writing case as well as mineralogical samples».

- The Vaussenat/Nansouty Collection : co-founders of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory (1878-1881). Numerous letters and photograph albums illustrating the progression of the Observatory’s construction.

- The Briet Collection: from 1889 to 1911, Lucien Briet photographed the area of Haut-Aragon and the valleys of Gavarnie, Troumouse and Estaubé. This collection of exceptional interest is comprised of his manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence and his 1,500 glass plates and albums (referenced and dated works).

- The Ledormeur Collection: more than 8,000 photographs taken between 1907 and 1949.

- Other collections from famous Pyrénéistes:

Arlaud: notebooks.

Hossard: papers, notebooks and correspondence.

Meillon: maps, photographs, notes and correspondence.

Russell: correspondence, photographs and personal objects.

Schrader: paintings, drawings, measuring apparatus, maps and correspondence.

Wallon: photographs, correspondence and maps.

Also to be added to this list are the numerous annals concerning the mountain summits of Balaïtous, Vignemale, Mont-Perdu, Aneto, etc., as well as guide books and numerous letters exchanged between the Pyrénéistes.

3. Iconographic collections:

- 6,200 prints and drawings  shown individually or in albums: for example the lithographic albums of Gavarni, Melling, Gorse, Petit, Devéria, Pingret, Cicéri or Bacler d’Albe; the drawings of Nattes, Lady Fortescue, Ramond de Carbonnières, Devéria or the sketches of Rohault de Fleury.

- 130 paintings offering a quite indicative glimpse of Pyrenean paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries with, among others, Dupré, Meyer, Doré, Gélibert, Galos, Colin, Damelincourt, Brissot de Warville, Bellanger, Godchaux, Roqueplan, Buffin, Landelle, Capdevielle, Schrader.

- The Charles Jouas Collection: 127 drawings and watercolours.

- 300 posters dating from the beginning of the 20th century, mostly publicity posters for the Midi Rail Company.

- Photographs: thousands of documents that are often very fragile. The oldest collection of photos on albumen paper were taken between 1854 and 1860 by Maxwell Lyte, Heilmann and Stewart, all three from the school of photography at Pau.  The Margalide Le Bondidier collection is made up of 1,200 plates and 6,300 photos, presented in albums and individually, dating from between 1921 to 1960 and includes views of the fortified castle, records the Sanctuaries and pilgrimages, and in more wider terms, local folklore, markets, the pastoral way of life, traditional fêtes and costumes, etc.  Other photograph collections concern Messrs. Lafon, Harlé and Lemoine. Finally, there are 2,000 postcards depicting the Pyrenean mountain chain.

4. Cartographic collections:

The Pyrenean Museum houses maps drawn up by the King’s engineers in the Pyrenees dating from the end of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century that greatly contributed to the precision of French maps.

- Map of the Pyrenean Mountains by Nicolas Sanson d’Abbeville, 1765, «where the passages from France into Spain are marked».

- General map of the Pyrenean Mountains by the engineers Roussel and La Blottière, beautiful work dating from 1718-1719, published in 1730.

- Cassini’s map or The Academy’s Map drawn up on the orders Louis XV, work of César François Cassini, known as Cassini de Thury, undertaken in 1750 and completed in 1815.

- Maps and topographical descriptions dating from 1776 – 1790, published in their respective works by Pasumot, geographical engineer and mineralogist, Palassou and Ramond.

- Maps drawn up by the geodesic officers of the geographic engineering corps, especially those of Peytier and Hossard dating from 1825 to 1827. Following them, the topographic officers working from 1842 to 1852 on the Ordnance Survey Map, published in 1865, the series of which is housed in the museum.

- On the fringe of this official activity led by the geographic army services, several Pyrénéistes also excelled in the art of cartography.  Of special mention are : 

Mount Perdido, the Central Pyrenees,byF. Schrader in 1873;

Planche de Jaca, contribution to the maps of the Spanish Pyrenees by the Count de Saint-Saud in 1892;

A series of panoramas over the Pyrenees by E. Wallon;

Regional maps of Cauterets and Vignemale by A. Meillon.

5. the magazine «Pyrénées»:

The Friends of the Pyrenean Museum association has published the magazine Pyrénées since 1950 with 4 issues per year as a successor to the Bulletin Pyrénéen.

The magazine’s web site can be visited at the following address : www.revue-pyrenees.com

6. Exhibition catalogues and publications:

A certain number of exhibition catalogues and other publications form a good introduction to the documentary collections that have been mentioned.  Among others are :

- Eugène Delacroix in the Pyrenees, 1845 - Lourdes, Friends of the Pyrenean Museum, 1975

- Eugène Viollet Le Duc, Voyage in the Pyrenees, 1833 - Lourdes, Friends of the Pyrenean Museum, 1972

- Lucien Briet in the Central Pyrenees (1889-1911) or the start of a photographic adventure – exhibition catalogue 12th April – 8th May 1993. Lourdes, Pyrenean Museum, 1993

- Charles Jouas (1866-1942), an artist in the Pyrenees – exhibition catalogue 1st July – 26th September 1992. Lourdes, Pyrenean Museum, 1992