Why build a new Museum of Visitation in Moulins? The City, which must find financial partners, wants to highlight this unique collection, not just religious. It was a campaign pledge from outgoing mayor Pierre-André Périssol.
Create a new museum of the Visitation.
The consultation work to build the project has started between the City, the managers of the private cultural establishment, the director Gérard Picaud and his assistant Jean Foisselon and the nuns of the Visitation, owners of the rooms.
Show the richness of a unique collection
This strong collection of 16,500 pieces continues to grow, the monasteries entrusting the Moulinois museum with new pieces. Also, in September 2020, it received the handwritten archives of the monastery of Nevers. A collection of religious art, of course, but marked by its diversity, interesting by its multiple entries.
The Deputy Mayor for Culture of the town of Moulins, Bernadette Martin, explains: “It’s not about creating a religious museum. But to make known specialties of craftsmanship, statuary, textile arts, goldsmith’s work, glass, furniture, to take an interest in the relations between the great European families … ”
While France has only 17 Visitation monasteries left, it has housed up to 376. “It is the only religious order to have preserved this history. There is no other example in Europe, ”says Jean Foisselon.
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A hat, a combination of Chinese fabrics and European fashion, was worn by Jesuits who went to Christianize Asia in 1900. Ancient manuscripts with their seals. Town planning documents, tax deductions, private letters … Each object corresponds to a particular story, a style. And often a famous personality. A certain number of pieces belonged to famous personalities: pendulum of the Countess of Ségur, distaff of Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV, piece of dress of Marie-Antoinette, fabric of a coach of Henri IV .
Bernadette Martin underlines: “Objects of this age, in this condition, are rare. Giving them to the monastery allowed them to be preserved. Each object is associated with a style, a story, a person. We enter the Great History through little stories, often moving. We know their constitution, thanks to the work of the sisters who have preserved this memory and thanks to the work carried out by the museum since its creation, thirty years ago ”. Gérard Picaud and Jean Foisselon have created a database that lists each piece. “We respond to requests from individuals looking for information on a sister, a grandmother.” For fifteen years, the Hotel Demoret has also hosted a thematic exhibition every year. But this remains insufficient to show all the richness of the collection.
Take the collection out of its confidentiality, make it accessible
The current museum is housed on the three narrow floors of a 15th century building in the historic heart of Moulins, the accessibility of which is problematic. Nine cramped rooms making it impossible to accommodate groups of 20 people with current sanitary standards. The three floors are separated by 83 steps. However, “We must be able to welcome all audiences.” It will therefore be necessary to leave this place. And then, “Pushing the walls to its limits,” the assistant continues. We must also open up this collection to the outside world, take it out of its confidentiality, give it more visibility. A lot of people feel that these collections are not for them, when everyone can find an angle of entry. ” The presentation of the works can often be renewed, given its richness.
Create a research center
Bernadette Martin particularly wants to highlight graphic art documents. The sisters have sometimes represented themselves over the centuries and deliver humorous testimonies about their daily lives. Drawings and texts created by nuns, often tinged with humor. It is also about being able to host researchers. “We wish to associate with the project a documentary and research center open to all fields, crafts, decorative arts, graphic arts, sociology …” The City of Moulins must now convince funders, such as the Department, which supports each annual exhibition, to participate in the financing of the project. But also the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which has a large number of monasteries of the Visitation. Because, insists Bernadette Martin, “we will not be able to manage alone the building of a museum “.