The Meung-sur-Loire museum is located in the town of the same name, in Loiret, 20 km south-west of Orléans.
The establishment is housed within the Espace culturel de La Monnaye, on a site formerly occupied by the Maison de la Monnaie, where copper coins were minted in the 17th century.
The museum has three exhibition spaces. The first presents a collection of rare works by François Villon and Jehan de Meung, who stayed in the locality, as well as volumes and old editions of the novel by Alexandre Dumas, "the Three Musketeers", the first pages of which evoke Meung-sur-Loire. This bibliophile fund, established since 1994, is the result of acquisitions made by the municipality.
A second space is devoted to the collection brought together by François Quatrehomme over four decades on the city and its surroundings: relating to archaeology, paleontology and numismatics, this collection is as rich as it is varied. It includes fossilized shells taken from the beaches of the Loire, objects and stones from the Secondary and Tertiary eras, as well as numerous pieces reconstituting the stages of human evolution (arrowheads, tools, pottery, etc.). The Sea of Touraine faluns is represented there by the presence of shark teeth, small fish, beavers, deer, rhinoceros, crocodiles, mammoths... At the same time, a collection of coins from different countries and eras is highlighted in the work office of François Quatrehomme, reconstructed as it is, and who was an extraordinary autodidact.
A third space is finally devoted to Gaston Couté (1880 - 1911), a libertarian poet-songwriter from the Butte de Montmartre who lived during his childhood in Meung-sur-Loire. Some of his texts are also written in Beauceron patois. In his work, he generally denounces injustices and social misery. The exhibition presents photographs, drawings and poems.
The museum also includes a room dedicated to temporary exhibitions.
Open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from April to October and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from November to March. FREE ENTRANCE. Information on +33 2 38 22 53 36.
