Centre Edmond Michelet
Centre d'études et musée Edmond-Michelet, Brive. Source: Licence Creative Commons. Public domain.
The Centre contributes to historical research and its dissemination for the 20th century period, and more particularly the Second World War.
The Centre was created on the initiative of Marie Michelet, wife of Edmond Michelet, and the Fraternité Edmond Michelet association. The project took shape in the early 1970s.
The Michelet family home was donated to the Association in order to set up the establishment, in partnership with the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde, to study events that occurred in the Second World War, in particular the Resistance and deportation. The Centre Edmond Michelet was inaugurated on 8th May 1976.
From the outset, the project's aim was to be a different memorial. Thus, Marie Michelet always refused that the establishment be a fixed memorial; she wanted it to be a living place, with the permanent exhibition running alongside a space for studies and reflection. This ambition led to the current name of "centre of studies".
Composition:
The establishment consists of a museum, a library and a video library, an archive and documentation section, an events area with permanent exhibitions, mobile exhibitions, conferences and a yearly seminar, and a learning department.
The archive service comprises:
- The Edmond Michelet and Etienne Borne collections
- Collections of former Résistance members, deportees and personalities
- A photo library
- Old newspapers and magazines
The museum has 10 rooms devoted to:
- Edmond Michelet, the Résistance member and the man of State
- The Résistance
- The occupation
- The deportation
- Human Rights
- Propaganda in images
An audio-guide is available for the visit.
The exhibition presents propaganda posters, of which the centre owns a record number in France (around 350) and which give an understanding of the context civilians had to face during the occupation. This museum develops the usual themes of museums dedicated to this period, but takes an object-focused approach.
Centre Edmond Michelet
4 rue Champanatier
19100 Brive la Gaillarde
Tél. : 05 55 74 06 08
Open every day except Sundays and national holidays, from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm.
Free entry
Guided tour on request for groups
Site du Centre Edmond Michelet
Photo du centre Edmond Michelet. Source : Centre Edmond Michelet
Practical information
4 rue Champanatier 19100
Brive-la-Gaillarde
05 55 74 06 08
From Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m to 6 p.m.
Closed on national holidays
