It took ten years to complete this project

Explain the metallurgy at the small and large in the heart of the Val of Aubois, a rural area to the limit of the expensive it ally and Nièvre who was at the forefront of these technologies two centuries ago, betting may seem for the less risky! Yet, this is the challenge raised by the General Council of the expensive which opened in June the latest addition to the museums of the region in the walls renovated the Hall de Grossouvre, a former warehouse of wood built in 1847 for the forge in the village. It took ten years to complete this project. The idea was launched at the end of the 1990s by an association, Aubois land and lights, to trace the local industrial epic and save this building which was threatening to ruin. Classified in 1999 and acquired by the Department in 2001, the Hall to the frame of metal and wood, imitated from the Welsh Hall was renovated between 2004 and 2007. The scenographic project developed a little longer lead. To define a true thread, the General Council appealed to Jamy Gourmaud, designer and host of the popular science show "It's not rocket science". The command that was passed can be summarized as follows: immerse the visitor in an episode of the series, 3D and more!

The cradle of the steel industry

The journalist went to seek inspiration in the history of the Aubois. Long before Lorraine, this region rich in timber, ore and water, was one of the cradles of the French steel industry. In the 19th century, the foundry was a remarkable expansion through a series of innovations imported from England. Around 1860, it had 1,000 workers, Trézy, Torteron, Grossouvre or Fourchambault, which was long one of the large French foundries. The ironworks produced Cannon, wire, pipes, metal architecture elements, etc., so that the blast, outdated technically, off to one between 1860 and 1880.

To guide the visit that evokes the technological milestones in the work of the railway, Jamy Gourmaud has revived a berrichon engineer, Georges Dufaud, local forge master and Polytechnique (promotion 1794), Captain of industry, and inventor. "We we are simply put in its place, he says. We followed his questioning. How does it work How do better What are the alternatives to this or that process

Series of interactive tables

As often in the series, the visitor goes back time, under the conduct of Jamy Gourmaud and the ghost of Georges Dufaud that challenge him along the way. Several educational and playful films give rhythm to a series of interactive tables. You discover the beginnings of metallurgy, the manufacture of charcoal, since it was the fuel used locally, the principle of melt casting, blast, the different types of furnaces, including oven Martin, invented by the grandson of Georges Dufaud, Pierre-Emile Martin.

The Museum, directed by the Nantes agency TMC and the contents suggests, unfolds on two levels, with 600 square metres of exhibition and an equivalent area for temporary exhibitions. It has cost EUR 2.9 million, funded by the General Council, Europe, the State and the region. The Department, which has entrusted the management to a semi-public company, table on of 16,000 to 20,000 visitors a year and hopes to balance the accounts as soon as 2010. Question if the public follow, having regard to the eccentric position of the site is. "The facility would be to install all equipment at the gates of Bourges, note the Vice-President Pascal Méreau.". We are here in logic hard to land-use planning. "The direction of tourism of the General Council, to"arouse the curiosity of the public"and"play the connivance"with the other local sites (gardens of Apremont, Abbey of Fontmorigny, Loire by bike...) in the hope of convincing the families, the school and, especially, groups take the detour by Grossouvre.

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