A new room dedicated to the technological innovations of the boats was inaugurated at the Musée de la Marine. The museum, which was to be moved, will finally remain at the Palais de Chaillot. Rear Admiral Georges PRUD'HOMME, director of the Musée de la Marine tells the story of the French battleships. Jean Michel LETENOUX, head of the model restoration workshop explains that he uses the same materials as the original models. These objects are valuable witnesses of technological developments in shipbuilding.
"This is a place I find essential". The navigator Eric TABARLY defends the Marine Museum, one of the most beautiful museum in the world. This museum has an educational vocation, it allows to understand the richness of maritime history and to understand the importance of the sea. He believes that: "The French must turn to the sea more than it has done so far." The support committee of the Musée de la Marine, of which Eric Tabarly is the president, opposes the planned move to install the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée des arts premier. Many models and objects in the museum are extremely fragile and may be damaged if moved.
Les techniciens du service de restauration des maquettes du musée de la marine de Paris reparent avec applications les modèles miniatures des vaisseaux anciens conservés depuis des siècles.
The Marine Museum is full of treasures. In its library are preserved the archives of the history of the French navy and the memory of the sea and its sailors. Marie Pierre DEMARCQ, curator of libraries at the Musée de la Marine presents the manuscript of the signals of the high command of the fleet of Louis XIV, containing the secret codes of communication for ships engaged in a naval battle. Among the 50,000 volumes and 350,000 documents, it is possible to consult pilot manuals for the maritime training of the future kings of France.
Among the collections of the Marine Museum, are preserved 20,000 glass plates impressed with maritime photography of the early 20th century. The museum has its own restoration workshops, like that of Bernard, specialized in brass and bronzes. The curator, Marjolaine MOUROT, opens the doors of the museum’s reserves, a veritable cave of Ali Baba.
The Musée de la Marine in Paris has an exceptional collection of models of old boats. Within the museum, work in the restoration workshop a carpenter, a precisionist, a modeler and a naval model maker. Jean Michel LETENOUX, the model maker, speaks of the rigor, patience and ingenuity required by his job as a restaurateur. He learned the gestures and techniques of restoration thanks to the museum’s elders and can rely on the library’s archival documents for historical research.
A visit to the Marine Museum with the navigator Florence ARTHAUD allows to learn how the navigators of the 16th century identified their position at sea, before the invention of modern navigation instruments.
"It must make everyone dream". Titouan LAMAZOU strolls through the alleys of the Musée de la Marine in Paris and admires its sumptuous boat models. The navigator believes that these models tell both the history of shipbuilding and the living conditions of sailors.
The Musée de la Marine moved to the Palais de Chaillot in 1943. The models of boats made for several centuries are the flagship of the museum’s collections. Indeed, in 1679, Colbert drew up an order for a model of all the ships of the royal fleet under construction to be made in each arsenal. These miniature and detailed replicas were to serve as models for shipyards. While filming the model of La Réale, the journalist tells the story of the admiral galley of the body of the galleys of Louis XIV.