How to visit Ecomuseum of Alsace (Mulhouse): schedule, prices

Since many years ago in my first big trip to northern europe I discovered the charm of living museums, I am passionate about them.

This type of museum, in an environment of traditional rural architecture, shows you in a very didactic way how people lived a while ago in the towns of the region or country where it is installed.

For this, there are not only recovered houses, exponents of the country architecture of the region, but in them numerous people emulate the traditional lifestyle of the area, giving life to the museum.

Now in the recent trip to Alsace, a French region bordering Germany, I have had the opportunity to visit the so-called Ecomuseum of Alsace, in the town of ungersheim, just half an hour from the city of Mulhouse.

I precisely remember that the first museum of these characteristics that I visited was not far from the Ecomuseum of Alsace; it was about Vogtsbauernhof Farm Museum, which is located just an hour and a half away Black Forest German.

In the case of Alsace , it is the largest museum of its kind in France, and is the third most visited museum in the Alsatian region, with 200.000 visitors a year.

History of the Ecomuseum of Alsace

La history of the Ecomuseum of Alsace dates back to 1973, when young students of history and archeology founded the association Alsatian peasant houses with the aim of preserving the architectural heritage of the region that was deteriorating.

His first task was to restore some buildings in the small town of gommersdorf, south of Alsace.

It was in 1980 when it was decided to create a rural space where the recovered buildings could be moved, which was made available by the municipality of ungersheim, near Mulhouse.

With 20 buildings rehabilitated and relocated, in 1984 the current museum was opened to the public, which has continued to grow with the installation of new houses and other buildings such as the Fuerte Tower Built in 1985 from the remains of the medieval wall of Mulhouse.

How to visit and what to see at the Alsace Ecomuseum

Thus, the Ecomuseum of Alsace emulates a town from the beginning of the 20th century where you can see up to 70 rural houses and buildings all originals, which have been moved from their places of origin to the current location of the museum.

Conclusion houses with half-timbered facades with different colors, which give the town a great charm, in which more than 40.000 objects are preserved, including clothing, furniture, tools, machinery, etc. donated to the museum by the Alsatians.

Some of them have an area of farm, so you can see, for example, goats, sheep or ducks.

The different houses are dedicated to different trades with workshops enabled so that during your visit to the museum you can see firsthand how the workers work in them. artisans with wood, iron, metals or other materials.

Crafts at the Ecomuseum of Alsace

You can also see a house where they are made traditional foods from the Alsace region, and the school does not lack a teacher.

In this way you will see the cabinetmaker and the blacksmith at work, or how traditional breads or sweets from the area are made.

The recommendation is visit the museum for a weekend, since it is the moment in which all the houses are filled with life with the presence of volunteers who, with the appropriate clothing, recreate the atmosphere of how people lived at the beginning of the last century.

Visiting times Ecomuseum of Alsace

El Ecomuseum of Alsace It is open to the public from the end of June to the end of October, with Time from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 18 p.m., with last access at 17 p.m., remaining closed every Monday.

It is also open during the Christmas season from the end of November to January 2, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 18 p.m., with a program of special Christmas activities.

Alsace Ecomuseum ticket prices

The Alsace Ecomuseum ticket prices They are, adults, 15 euros; and children from 4 to 14 years old, students, seniors +65 and disabled people, 10 euros.

There are also entries from reduced price 7,50 euros if you visit the museum after 16 p.m.

Map: how to get to the Alsace Ecomuseum

El Ecomuseum of Alsace It is located in the town of ungersheim, just 15 kilometers north of Mulhouse, so you will arrive in just 20 minutes from this Alsatian city.

Photos of the Ecomuseum of Alsace

Here you have more photos with samples of rural architecture at the Alsace Ecomuseum in Ungersheim.