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Musée des Traditions et Arts Normands
The Museum of Norman Traditions and Arts is housed in the Château de Martainville, at Martainville-Épreville in Seine-Maritime, about twenty minutes from Rouen. This listed brick château is one of the rare examples of early Renaissance architecture in Normandy. It was built from 1485 by Jacques Le Pelletier, a wealthy Rouen shipowner and merchant; some sources speak more broadly of the late 15th and 16th centuries. The château and its outbuildings are enclosed by walls punctuated with turrets.
The museum, which holds the Musée de France label, presents Norman daily life and culture from the 16th to the 19th century: furniture, earthenware, kitchen and dairy utensils, arranged by geographical origin, from the Pays de Bray to the Pays de Caux and the coast. Farm interiors are recreated with objects and testimonies. There are also Norman headdresses, costumes and jewellery, as well as folk musical instruments made in Normandy.
The site will appeal to families, lovers of ethnography and architecture, and visitors curious about rural Norman traditions.
