Écomusée d'Alsace
 The museum village |
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Ungersheim |
| Art |
Open air museum in France
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| opening | 1984 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 200,000 |
| Website | |
The Écomusée d'Alsace is the largest open-air museum in France and is included in the list of Musées de France by the French Ministry of Culture . It is located in Alsace near Ungersheim , between Mulhouse and Colmar . The museum was created in 1984 and today shows 72 buildings that were previously located elsewhere and have been rebuilt. The sponsoring association at the time saved them from planned destruction. The buildings include a bakery, a pottery, a school, a stone residential tower as well as several farms and half-timbered houses.
The high number of storks that have settled on the roofs of the buildings is striking.
history
In 1971 a handful of committed employees from the “Maisons Paysannes d'Alsace” association campaigned for the preservation and restoration of rural houses that had been approved for demolition. Since many of these houses were supposed to make way for new buildings at their actual location, they came up with an unusual idea. They decided to dismantle the houses in order to rebuild them piece by piece in a different location. In 1980, after a long search, the project decided on fallow land between Mulhouse and Colmar. In 1984 around twenty buildings had already been rebuilt and made accessible to the public.
The time as an open-air museum 1984-2006
The museum, founded by Marc Grodwohl in 1984, was anchored in the region and has had around 280,000 visitors a year in recent years. In the end, the complex comprised more than eighty historical buildings, apart from the medieval stone tower block from Mulhouse, almost exclusively half-timbered houses. Demonstrations gave an impression of the traditional way of life on the Upper Rhine and the associated building and living culture from the Middle Ages to the modern industrial era.
The museum received recognition in national and European bodies and is a founding member of the Association of Ecomusees and the Musée de sociétés (FEMS). It was run by an independent association and, in contrast to other cultural institutions, did not receive any regular subsidies and at most grants for the public infrastructure (access, energy and sewer pipes).
In its 24-year existence under the direction of its founder Marc Grodwohl (1982-2006), the Ecomusée d'Alsace had positive effects not only on cultural life in Alsace, but also on the economy: It initiated measures to protect regional tradition and Culture. Subsidies for the restoration of buildings were also distributed. Its attractiveness became exemplary for many localities in the preservation of the historical and also touristic village image.
The settlement of Japanese companies in Alsace goes back to private visits by Japanese investors, and around 60 jobs were created for the museum's own restaurants and the Alsatian-style hotel complex with ten small half-timbered houses - in addition to the animation staff in the museum. In addition, the Ecomusée d'Alsace performed scientific tasks and offered sheltered social workplaces for young people with integration difficulties.
The standing outside the museum mighty building of the decommissioned after 1976 potash mines Rodolphe 1 and Rodolphe 2 of Pulversheim were made accessible in 2004 for the public and a museum of the history of Alsatian potash mining expanded. The two complexes, the Museum Village and Potash Works, were connected by a museum railway with historic wagons. The Kaliwerk museum section was closed again in 2006 due to a lack of visitors.
Neighborhood of the new bioscope
In 2005, the promised subsidies for operating costs were canceled as the Alsatian politicians used the funds to support the construction of the neighboring Bioscope theme park . This amounted to an expropriation in favor of the commercial project Bioscope. To make matters worse, the Bioscope theme park, a favorite project of many politicians, only reached a tenth of the number of visitors in the first year that the commercial company had targeted.
The Ecomusée d'Alsace got into financial difficulties. In September 2006, the founder and builder Marc Grodwohl was urged to resign, as was the president of the Ecomusée Association, François Capber.
The remainder of the board then elected Jacques Rumpler, a freelance entertainer and commercial manager of an opticians' chain, to succeed the club's president. In June 2008 the association appointed Pascal Schmitt as its new director.
In 2007 the majority of the museum was sold to the Compagnie des Alpes , an operator of amusement parks, which runs the neighboring Bioscope, which was co-financed by Alsatian politicians with over 35 million euros. This company runs the Ecomusée d'Alsace with far fewer employees and tries to market the museum together with the neighboring Bioscope . The Bioscope was closed in 2012 due to its limited success.
The Écomusée d'Alsace until 2009
After a preventive rehabilitation process ('procédure de sauvegarde') and financial recovery, the association “Association de l'Écomusée d'Alsace” introduced a new governance structure in 2008 and invested again in the further development of the museum and its activities.
This financial recovery was made possible by the financial intervention of the Conseil Général du Haut-Rhin and the Conseil Régional d'Alsace - but also at the expense of the industrial complex "Carreau Rudolphe" and its adjacent properties, which were sold to the Conseil Général for the symbolic price of one euro du Haut-Rhin were sold, as well as at the expense of a social plan that led to the loss of numerous jobs.
The Ecoparcs company, which ran the Ecomusée tavern and the museum boutique, was taken over in April 2007 by the Caisse de Dépôt and the Compagnie des Alpes company. In April 2007 the association "Association de l'Ecomusée d'Alsace" transferred the management of ticket sales, marketing and communication as well as on-site sales to the company EcoBioGestion as part of an administrative power of attorney.
Since September 2009 the association “Association de l'Ecomusée d'Alsace” has been taking on the communication and marketing tasks again.
The Écomusée d'Alsace currently
In 2012 “Eden Palladium”, the last of the four existing salon carousels from 1909, was sold to the Europapark in Rust, Baden. There are currently 150 volunteer and 38 full-time employees (converted to full-time) at the Ecomusée d'Alsace. On average, around 90 events, 20 traveling theater plays, 10 hands-on workshops and 10 exhibitions are organized each year.
See also
Web links
General links to the museum
Links to the documentation of the disputes 2006–2009
- Écomusée d'Alsace (German, official homepage until 2006 with video, photos and article archive as well as comments)
- webjournal.ch (French): "L'Ecomusée décapité"
- webjournal.ch (German): "The Ecomusée is beheaded!"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Visit to Salty Hades. Retrieved September 26, 2010 .
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Econo-online )
- ↑ Museumsblog.de
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: TV-Suedbaden.de )
- ^ Badische Zeitung
- ↑ Baden-Online ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
Coordinates: 47 ° 51 ′ 13 ″ N , 7 ° 17 ′ 9 ″ E