Musee de la France Protestante de l'Ouest. Chateau du Bois Tiffrais, Monsireigne.

The Musee de la France Protestante de l'Ouest, just 3kms from the village at le Bois Tiffrais in a country house, 400 years of protestant religion is explained with pictures, documents and objects of the faith. The Huguenots as they were referred to were particularly strong in this area and especially in towns like Fontenay-le-Comte and La Rochelle.
The Wars of Religion (1562-98) in which the Catholics and Protestant battled so violently caused death and destruction on a vast scale and it was not until the Edict of Nantes in 1598 did the fighting stop. The Edict of Nantes which allowed protestants to worship freely lasted for nearly a century. It was revoked byLouis XIV with the result that some 400.000 protestants fleed abroad, many of then to the Uk. It was only in 1789 with the revolution that their right of free worship returned, but that brought about another conflict with the Catholic religion with the Wars of the Vendee.
The west of France has been greatly effected by its Protestant past, whether by the Reformation, brought very early on into the region by Calvin in Poitiers in 1534, the impact of leaders such as Conde in the wars of Relgion, by the Edict of Nantes, by places of safty such as Fontenay-le-Comte, by Richelieu's siege of La Rochelle, by the SaumurAcademy, by prosecutions such as the dragonades in Poitou, by exile after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes or by other events.
The Musee de la France Protestante at Le Chateau du Bois Triffrais has through documents,engravings, maps and various other item brought back to life the 4 centuries of protestantism in western France,

Open: 29/6 to 1/9 Tuesdays to Sundays 14h to 18h

Tarifs: Adult 5€  Child (12-18) 3€    under 12's free










Return to find more Attractions of the Vendee