The Centre of Discovery of the Middle Ages, as if you were there

Egletons, a medieval city, is home to the Centre de Découverte du Moyen-âge, CDMA, which offers a 350m² permanent exhibition, a medieval garden and a variety of events all year round to help visitors discover and appreciate our medieval heritage.

Creative workshops, demonstrations and initiations introduce visitors to the arts of the Middle Ages, while guided tours and lectures immerse them in history... Several themes are covered.

Today's CDMA is built on the site of an ancient fortified house, which provided security for one of the town's gateways, the so-called "de Vedrenne".

Remnants of the medieval era include lintels, relieving arches, a double-faced interior and exterior construction system, and a basement cellar with a semicircular arch. The main structure is made of local granite and ashlar.

The current building was rebuilt in 1784 and belonged to the notaries Brette and Parel.

The house was bought by the commune of Égletons from the Clédat family in 1998.

 

The art of war in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, war of any kind was the raison d'être of the knight.

The exhibition presents swords, axes, bows, chain mail, helmets, shields, mangonels, trebuchets, couleuvrines, fortifications, sieges, crusades...

Panels, models and replicas bring a thousand years of combat to life.

 

Medieval art: reliquaries, illuminations...

Art in the Middle Ages was almost entirely at the service of faith, seeking beauty to celebrate the glory of God.

The vast majority of works remained anonymous, and were produced collectively in workshops or on building sites.

From the second half of the Middle Ages onwards, artists signed their works, then over the years became lay professionals working for wealthy patrons.

Architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaics, stained glass, enamel, goldsmiths and silversmiths... are presented through a selection of beautiful objects, both originals and copies. A special place is reserved for Limousin enamels and other colored arts.

 

Troubadours, poetry and music

The troubadour expresses his art in the langue d'Oc, the language spoken south of the Loire, while the trouvères express themselves in the langue d'Oil, the language spoken north of the Loire.

Throughout the Middle Ages, in Europe and around the Mediterranean, cultural melting pots bubbled over, giving rise to a variety of cultural movements: Al Andalus in Spain, scaldic poetry and sagas in the Nordic countries, the Minnesänger in the Germanic sphere...

A visit to the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, to listen to the songs of the troubadours and touch their musical instruments...

 

Life in the Middle Ages: countryside, towns and castles

Medieval society was initially much more rural than urban.

Life in the countryside was organized around villages, with populations ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred. The villages we know today probably already existed in the 11th century!

The castle is a highly symbolic place for the power and might of its master. This power is often expressed in the architecture of the master tower. Finally, the castle is often the seat of political, judicial and administrative decisions.

 

Tristan and Isolde's garden

The medieval garden of Tristan and Isolde comprises a vegetable garden, an orchard and a pleasure garden.

Townspeople (artisans, merchants) and peasants alike grew food to supplement their diets.

 

 

 

Center de Découverte du Moyen-Âge

2, avenue d'Orluc,

19 300 Egletons

Tel.: 05 55 93 29 66

contact@cdma-egletons.fr

 

www.egletons.fr/cdm

 

 


Translated with DeepL.com

(free version)

 


To go further....

A LA DECOUVERTE MOYEN AGE

À la recherche du Moyen-Âge

Jeune lecteur de Walter Scott, Jacques Le Goff est parti très tôt à la recherche du Moyen Age. Ce fut le début d'une longue aventure humaine, spirituelle et concrète. Très vite il eut l'intuition de rencontrer un monde à la fois très proche et très lointain. IlI nous offre aujourd'hui une synthèse de ses travaux et de sa longue fréquentation d'un millénaire capital. Refusant la légende " noire " du Moyen Age, comme les rêveries trop idéalisées, il fait revivre l'intense richesse d'une civilisation, marquée par l'Eglise chrétienne. Insistant sur la capacité d'innovation d'une culture qui se disait hostile à toute nouveauté, il n'hésite pas à évoquer de multiples " renaissances ". Ce livre passionnant et très accessible dessine un Moyen Age ignoré, novateur, effrayé par les millénarismes et pourtant largement porté par l'espoir. Jacques Le Goff montre avec un immense talent que l'humanisme n'a pas attendu la Renaissance pour apparaître. Et que l'Europe à venir ne saurait s'inventer en oubliant son passé.

Also to be seen in the department

Ségur-le-Château

Ségur-le-Château, the picturesque at every street corner

placeSégur-le-Château – Corrèze 
label cities and villages  
Le château de Val

The castle of Val

placeBort-les-Orgues – Corrèze 
label Remarkable buildings Films: film locations Castles & Monuments  
Collonges la Rouge,

Collonges la Rouge, the city of twenty-five towers

placeCollonges la Rouge - Corrèze 
label Major sites Castles & Monuments cities and villages  
Beaulieu sur Dordogne - La Fête de la Fraise

A Strawberry Festival at Guinness World Records

placeBeaulieu sur Dordogne - Corrèze 
label Records: The +'s and -'s  

Discover the regions of the Great South