Comtois Museum Actor in the dialogue between cultures and societies

Discover the society of the Franche-Comté from another angle thanks to the collections of the Musée comtois. Between tradition and modernity, ancient and contemporary testimonies, more than 100,000 objects are preserved and invite a cross-reflection between past and present.

A society museum

Both ancient and contemporary, the Musée Comtois' collections invite us to better understand the Franc-Comtois society. This approach is more relevant today than ever before, with the necessary questioning of the social and economic changes in our world. The museum's exhibitions will help you to better understand the way in which men and women have adapted to their territory, whether in their way of living, creating or even feeding themselves.

More about the Musée Comtois

My visit to the Musée comtois

No less than 17 rooms on three levels: the permanent exhibition presents numerous objects dating for the most part from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Among the main themes, you will find the making of Comté cheese, religious beliefs and the adaptation of the Comtois to the constraints of the territory and the climate.

On the top floor, an exceptional collection of puppets awaits you. It illustrates the local craze for this art of live performance, with strong satirical overtones. Rare and specific to the region, this collection shows the richness of creation and freedom of expression, dear to the spirit of the Franche-Comté.

During your visit, you will notice the predominance of photography, with more than 73,000 photographs preserved in the Musée comtois' collections. For example, there are several hundred glass plate negatives belonging to the d'Orival family - some members of this aristocratic family from Bisonne became passionate about photography in the 1880s. The Garneret / Folklore comtois collection deals with facets of popular life with remarkable care and aesthetic quality: these photographs were taken by Abbé Garneret and other members of the Folklore comtois association between the 1930s and 1990s.

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FERMETURE ANNUELLE DE LA CITADELLE du 1er janvier au 3 février 2023

13.01.2023

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La cabine téléphonique du Musée comtois

En tant que musée de société, le Musée comtois se tourne depuis plusieurs années vers la collecte d’objets et de témoignages contemporains.
Ceux-ci illustrent les mutations, les ruptures et les permanences de notre société qui s’inscrivent également dans l’histoire d’un territoire et de ses habitants.

Cette cabine téléphonique a été acquise par le Musée en 2016, lors de l’exposition « Le Truc d’avant » qui interrogeait les visiteurs sur les objets en voie de disparition.
Une disparition entraînée par de nouvelles pratiques sociales.
Cet objet fut fortement plébiscité par le public pour sa sauvegarde.

Cette cabine téléphonique a un lien avec notre territoire à plusieurs titres.
La structure aluminium a été fabriquée non loin de Dijon (Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur) par l’entreprise CLAIR et fils.
Elle a été utilisée entre 1980 et 2015 dans la région.

Dans les années 1990, on trouvait sur le territoire français 300 000 cabines téléphoniques tant en ville qu’à la campagne. Elles étaient indispensables pour communiquer dès lors que l’on quittait son domicile. L’apparition du téléphone portable a brutalement entraîné leur déclin jusqu’au démantèlement de l’ensemble du parc par Orange entre 2015 et 2017.
Lors de cette vague de disparition, le Musée comtois acquiert ce modèle.

Suite à une tempête en 2019, cette cabine téléphonique est endommagée. Lors d’une visite à la Citadelle, la fille de Bernard CLAIR remarque immédiatement l’objet.
Avec son mari, ils se mobilisent alors pour sa restauration, rencontrent l’équipe du Musée et font revivre la mémoire de cette entreprise et de son savoir-faire.

Collection Musée comtois – Don de la société Orange

Rénovation : Atelier de métallerie Savoir Fer

Mécénat : M. Hervé Obrecht, L’Atelier Mécanique SARL, Dannemarie-sur-Crête (Doubs)

Discover the collections

The collections of the Musée comtois owe a great deal to one man: Abbé Jean Garneret. Inspired by the Scandinavian model, he embarked on field ethnology in order to safeguard a world that was disappearing under the effect of the great economic and social changes of the century: from the 1930s onwards, he collected objects that were witnesses to Comtoise life, on his own initiative and then at the request of the Direction des Musées de France and the Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires.

Created in 1946 and installed at the Citadelle since 1960, the Musée comtois has enriched its collections thanks to numerous donations from individuals. Not forgetting the Folklore Comtois association and its predominant role: in 2007, for example, it donated a very important collection of negatives to the City of Besançon.
Some of the collections have been digitised and are available online on the website Mémoire vive of the City of Besançon, and on the Portal of Puppetry Arts.

Discover our collections online.

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the world of Louis Fonta

A passionate self-taught man, Louis Fonta (1920-2009) was a mechanic, a worker at the UMAS file factory and then a locksmith at the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. After his retirement in 1983, he started making 300 to 400 models in series with recycled materials and boxwood. Somewhere between folk art, art brut, modest art and naive art, the artist's miniature worlds bear witness to daily life and the know-how of the Comtois before the great changes of the Glorious Thirty (1945-1975).
To protect and promote these models, the Musée comtois acquired 140 of them in 2003. Then in 2020, the museum renewed contact with its children and grandchildren to acquire 63 additional models. Exchanges with donors and their families are very valuable in enriching the history of the collections. Here, they have allowed a better understanding of the breadth and depth of the astonishing work, both documentary and poetic, of this artist-worker in the countryside.