The Château-Musée, former priory of the Abbey of Lérins, houses three museums, the National Museum Picasso "War and Peace", the Magnelli Museum and the Museum of Ceramics.
The Magnelli Museum of Ceramics is located in a former priory of the monks of Lerins, lords of Vallauris from the eleventh to eighteenth century.
The current building dates from the sixteenth century and houses a Renaissance staircase, remarkable, listed in the Inventory of Historic Monuments since 1951.
Only the chapel bears witness to the medieval construction.
A bit of history...
After the French Revolution, the property was sold to the Daumas family and became a place of residence.
During the 1930s, they thought of turning it into a museum, a project that was revived at the end of the 1940s under the impetus of René Batigne and his wife Claire Voight Batigne, a Franco-American couple of collector patrons, who settled in Vallauris.
They founded the Tapis Vert studio, a place of creation and actively participated in the renewal of the artistic and cultural life of Vallauris during the 1950s and restored the abandoned chapel.
In 1949, a first exhibition, "From Palissy to Picasso" was inaugurated. On December 7, 1951, they founded the Association of Friends of the Museum. In 1952, Picasso created for the chapel "War and Peace" which he gave to the French state, then the national museum was inaugurated in 1959.
The City of Vallauris bought the building in 1972. Four years earlier was inaugurated the International Biennial of Ceramic Art, a ceramic competition. From the very first edition, the principle was established that the winning works would become the property of the future museum, thus forming the basis of the collection. On July 8, 1977, the museum was inaugurated and in 1996, it was renamed the Magnelli Museum of Ceramics.
A remarkable heritage
The collections highlight the remarkable artistic, craft, cultural and human heritage of the city of Vallauris.
The Magnelli Museum has an exceptional collection of works collected by Magnelli during his lifetime. At the death of the artist, his widow, Susi Magnelli donated this collection to the museum of Vallauris. Since then, other donations have come to enrich this legacy.
The Museum of Ceramics is discovered by taking the magnificent Renaissance staircase. This museum, divided into several rooms, allows visitors to understand the evolution of ceramics in Vallauris through different major periods.
You will cross the ages, passing through the former kitchen of the monks of Lérins where is exposed a collection of utilitarian culinary pottery (manufactured in Vallauris from antiquity to the 20s). Then you will take a leap into the 1950s, the "golden age" of Vallauris, with its artistic ceramics and end your visit by admiring pieces with pure, contemporary forms, made by designers.
Magnelli Museum, Museum of Ceramics
Place de la Libération,
06220 Vallauris
Tel : 04 93 64 71 83
musee@vallauris.fr
http://www.vallauris-golfe-juan.fr/-Le-Musee-Magnelli-Musee-de-la-.html
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