Musée d'histoire locale et des traditions

The Local History Museum founded in 1998 is housed in the "Maria" house, purchased by the City of Fréjus on December 15, 1986. This house was listed in the inventory of Historic Monuments by decree on June 18, 1987. Maria is the name of the last owner to date, until 1986. In this house was born Jacques Félix Girardin, better known under the name of Abbé Girardin, on November 13, 1679, died in 1759, doctor of theology and parish priest of Fréjus. He wrote the first history of Fréjus in French. The previous one by Canon Anthelmi, in Latin, only concerned the bishops.

Through its collections, gathered by the association Les Amis du Pays de Fréjus and the municipality, the museum invites you to discover different aspects of the social, economic and cultural life of Fréjus in the 20th and 21st centuries in a former Provençal mansion.

A hôtel particulier is a type of French dwelling, consisting of a luxurious house built within a town, designed to be inhabited by only one family (and its household staff).

In Provence, the private mansion has kept the model of the street-facing hotel in Gothic or Renaissance style. The street having lost its prestige, a style of private mansion called "Parisian" will be established set back, at the back of the courtyard. The rear facade overlooks a garden, hence the expression "between courtyard and garden".

The plot of land where the museum is located has been identified since the 1882th century. An extension of the building is also identified in the XNUMXth century, a time when the city expanded beyond its ramparts. Today, the house is more a reflection of the modifications of XNUMX.

This house contains a beautiful staircase with several landings, a kitchen with an open fireplace and a "pile", a monolithic stone sink, as well as a garden, a space that is both a pleasure and a utilitarian space. In this garden, there are presses that evoke the wine-growing activity of Fréjus and the reconstruction of the workshop of the last blacksmith of Fréjus established on rue Saint-François, Monsieur Musso, with his forge that has been completely reconstructed. There are also many tools, witnesses to the agricultural past of Fréjus.

The scene of the “Bugado” recalls that the laundry was drowned in the public washhouse.

Headdresses and authentic Provençal costumes adorn the reception room on the 1st floor, where a 3th century painting of a view of Fréjus is enthroned. A room is dedicated to the "Bravade", a traditional religious festival that takes place on the 1482rd Sunday after Easter, in honor of Saint-François de Paule who, according to tradition, freed Fréjus from the plague in XNUMX. Two XNUMXth century paintings representing the bishops of Castellane and Fleury are also in this room.

The museum also contains a reconstruction of a classroom from a school at the beginning of the 30th century, with, at the back of the room, the sawdust stove, the grocery store - a business from the 40s and 1911s, the shoemaker, the Naval Air Base which was the first in France to be created in 28, a numismatic display case with a coin from Forum Iulii struck in 27-2 BC and a room in tribute to the tragedy of Malpasset, a dam which collapsed in Fréjus on 1959 December XNUMX.

The art of ceramics is also represented because Fréjus has been an important place of production of decorative ceramics since antiquity. A room is dedicated to it in which we find in particular original works by Dominique Zumbo (1854 – 1939), creator of the Manufacture des Arènes in Fréjus, whose style of ceramics with metallic reflections is close to Art Nouveau.

Fréjus Pass: €6 (Fréjus Individual Pass 4 sites, valid for 7 days). From 18 years old.
Reduced Fréjus Pass: €4 (Fréjus Individual Pass 4 sites, valid for 7 days). Children aged 12 to 17, students under 25 (upon presentation of the card), groups of more than 10 people, job seekers (upon presentation of proof), classes from schools and educational establishments outside Fréjus/Saint-Raphaël.