Les patrimonialisations de l’industrie textile en France entre muséification et valorisation des savoir-faire (xxe-xxie siècle)

Abstract

The economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s led to the closure of numerous textile factories in France, and since that period the industry has witnessed a movement in favour of its interpretation in museums and its recognition as heritage. This article looks at some of the initiatives which have emerged under various names—‘maison’, eco-museum, workshop-museum—and asks how pertinent the model of the museum is when it comes to preserving a physical heritage of buildings and machines and an intangible heritage of skills and technical gestures. The examples analysed all illustrate particular moments in the general history of museums, the best known and most popular being the eco-museum movement, even though this movement’s original concepts are not always respected. Another museum approach is to be seen in the case of textile companies which seek to perpetuate their tools and their technical know-how, profiting from other forms of heritage recognition, such as the protection of the machines as historic monuments or the awarding of an official label as an ‘entreprise du patrimoine vivant’, a living heritage company.

Keywords

• textile industry
• industrial heritage
• eco-museum
• company museums