Museums


East India Company museum

Discover the museum

Useful information

Timetable (with all proper reserves):

  • 1st Feb.-30 Apr. : from 1.30 pm to 6 pm, closed on Tuesday
  • 2 May-31 August : from 10 am to 6.30 pm, every day
  • 1st September-15 December : from 1.30 pm to 6 pm, closed on Tuesday
  • Annual closure 1st of May and from 16 December to 31 January included

Tickets give access to the citadel, the national Navy museum and the French East India Company museum. Rates (with all proper reserves):

  • Full price tickets : 8 €
  • Reduced price tickets : 6,30 €
  • Group rate : 6,30 € (available from 20 charged admissions)
  • Free for people under 26 (EU)

Parking available next to the citadel. Disabled people facilities.

For further information

  • about rates : please call +33 297 825 672
  • about French East India Company museum : please call +33 297 821 913
  • Guided tours, please call +33 297 022 329

A unique museum of art and history in an exceptional setting

What to see in the museum

A unique museum of art and history in an exceptional setting

Since 1984, the musée de la Compagnie des Indes (East India Company's museum) has been housed in one of the buildings oft he Citadel of Port-Louis, which is a marvel of the XVIIth century military architecture that was initiated by the Spanish and completed by architect Jacques Corbineau.

The musée de la Compagnie desIndes is the one and only museum in France to deal with this theme. It brings back to visitors the exceptional story of great trading companies during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries.

Vessel models, engravings, oldmaps, indoeuropean furniture, China porcelains, Indian cottons : all these artefacts are the testimony of this amazing maritime epic. The quest for precious goods led the Company's crews and employees to African, Oriental and American coasts after some long and perilous voyages. The names of the trading posts that had been built still are the echoes of this adventurous past : Ouiddah, Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Pegu, Guangzhou.

As you walk the museum rooms

From Lorient to Guangzhou, the display evokes the shippings of the East India Company ships. Furthermore, the display allows us to admire the precious goods that appealed to the Europeans so much, all this in the atmosphere of the African and Asian trading posts.

More informations : musee.lorient.fr

Lorient La Base

The Éric Tabarly sailing museum

Located on the old submarine base (BSM) in Lorient, the Cité de la Voile houses a permanent exhibition, a resource centre and a conference centre. This is also the home port for Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duick yachts. The sailing museum is  2000 m² of exhibition space to discover the world of sailing, and a permanent homage to Eric Tabarly. This is also an interactive museum that is a great place for understanding, experimenting, testing and feeling the same sensations as the great skippers. More informations : www.citevoile-tabarly.com/en

Submarine La Flore s645

Decommissioned in 1989, the submarine ”Flore” can be seen at the Lorient submarine base. This exciting new site has been open to the public since the spring of 2010. The tour of the submarine is one of a whole series of museum experiences on 450 m² in a former cell of block K2, tracing the history of this wartime base. More informations : www.la-flore.fr/en

The Submariners’ museum

In the heart of the base, a special museum houses the oldest simulator in the world, built to train German submariners in 1942. This visit, unique in Europe, enables the curious to discover the various rescue techniques used at great depths !
Guided or multilingual audio-guided tours and projections of underwater archive films and images. More informations (in french) : www.musee-sous-marin.com

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