Between autumn 2018 and spring 2021, an important renovation project will take place at the Alpine Museum in Chamonix. Therefore, during this period it will not be possible to visit the museum.
According to Le Dauphine, last weekend, on the occasion of the European Heritage Days, the Director of the Museum network of the Chamonix valley, Gabrielle Michaux, presented the "new" museum, imagined as how will be at its re-opening.
A "new" Alpine Museum in 2021
This cultural institution, managed since 1969 by the Amis du vieux Chamonix association, is getting older: the windows must be replaced, a lift must be installed for the access of people with reduced mobility and the floors upstairs changed.
According to Le Dauphine, in order to offer more space for the exhibition, an enlargement of the museum is planned in the Bicentenaire Hall, on the side of which will be moved the entrance to offer more visibility to the museum.
Recognizing that 60% of the visitors are foreigners, the aim of this project is to develop the use of foreign languages inside the institution, but also to turn more towards the use of modern media in order to offer an adapted cultural "content" to the visitors.
A new exhibition program was designed, based on a questionnaire carried out last year among visitors, so the cultural content of the Alpine Museum will be "as representative as possible of what is in the territory and in the heritage that we have kept here for a century" explained Gabrielle Michaux.
According to Le Dauphine, to ensure a good organization, an additional employee is scheduled to join the team of 15 people.
Four exhibition rooms
The exhibition program will take pace in four rooms, three of them designed for permanent exhibitions:
- the first exhibition room will focus on the history of the valley and on Chamonix, the adaptation of the inhabitants to the evolution of the territory and its environment;
- the second exhibition room will focus on the theme of High Mountain and its conquest through human achievements;
- the third exhibition room will approach the mountain evolution over the years and the representations through paintings and narratives;
- the fourth exhibition room will be a versatile and mediation venue. Temporary exhibitions could take place there, probably with a theme each year.
The calendar and the investment amount for the renovation works at the museum have not yet been validated by the elected officials.
To follow this project, other visits to explain and present the renovation works of the Alpine Museum could take place on the occasion of the :
- International Mountain Day on 11 December 2017;
- Night of Museums in May 2018.
