A Day at the Museums

Last Thursday, the bright sun and blue skies that we had enjoyed in the Alps disappeared. We woke up to rain and decided that it would be a good day to enjoy some of the museums in the area.

Our first stop was at the Musée du Pays de Thônes, a small museum that is part of the town’s public library. Housed in a building donated to the town by Joseph Avet, a native of Thônes who immigrated to New Orleans in the 1830s and made a fortune as a merchant, the museum includes exhibits on the history of Thônes and its role in the Savoie region. I noticed many original documents in the exhibit cases, the earliest from about 1350. When we spoke to the librarian after our tour, she mentioned that these documents were found in a 16th century wooden chest that had been passed down from mayor to mayor!

After checking our emails at the Tourist Office, we enjoyed a fabulous four-course lunch for 13 euros at a roadside auberge. And wine and coffee were included! Here is the menu.

Our next stop was at the Musee de la Resistance et de la Deporation, located near the National Cemetery in Morette, about 4 kilometers from Thônes. The museum tells the poignant story of the resistance fighters of the Battle of Glieres in March 1944 (see David’s post for additional information). The museum is housed in a chalet that is similar to the ones used by the resistance fighters on the Plateau de Glieres.

And the graves of these fighters are in the National Cemetery. We found two graves of Jewish men, one of whom was the doctor. We also saw a grave with the last name of our gite’s owner; we asked him later on if that was a relative, and he mentioned that his uncle, Edouard Raymond Emmanuel Credoz, died in the siege.

Our last visit was to the Fondation pour l’art contemporain Claudine et Jean-Marc Salomon in Alex, a town about 15 minutes away. Opened in 2001 in the Chateau Arenthon, the museum houses the contemporary art collection of the Salomons (of the ski equipment company founded in Annency in 1947). David will post more on our visit on his blog.

And by the time we finished the day’s cultural tour, the sun had come out once again!