The Henriette and Claude Viallat Bullfighting Cultures Museum combines art, history, culture and ethnography by evoking, thanks to a formidable collection, bullfighting in all its forms. Guided tour.
Don’t be fooled by the opening date of the place, its collection is much older. When the Bullfighting Cultures Museum welcomed its first visitors in 2002 (on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Feria), in the former premises of the Nîmes pawnshop, the inventory already listed more than 2000 objects, including more than 300 posters and almost 700 works (books, programs, magazines, newspapers, etc.).
Collecting pieces began decades ago, even before the creation of the Vieux-Nîmes museum in 1921, of which a delocalized branch remains. From the 1950s, several rooms were devoted to bullfighting before, in 1988, a first dedicated space was opened on Boulevard Amiral-Courbet (in alleys since requisitioned by the natural history museum). The collection also found a temporary home in the galleries of the arenas.
Bullfighting Culture Museum of Nîmes: educational vocation
Today located on rue Ducros, literally a stone’s throw from the amphitheater and its fights (and in the direct vicinity of the Musée de la Romanité), the Musée des Cultures Taurines is entirely dedicated to an emblematic animal of the region and the History of men. And it’s unique in France. Yes, there are many other museum spaces dedicated to the bull and its culture, most of the time in arenas. But no other one benefits from the designation “Museum of France”, guarantor of a real public interest validated by the Ministry of Culture.
Named Henriette and Claude Viallat since 2017, the museum of bullfighting cultures in Nîmes gives pride of place to all forms of bullfighting, Spanish, Camargue and even Landes, with an educational vocation in the spotlight. By striving to present and preserve a living heritage in a spirit of openness and exchange.
Goya, Picasso and of course, Viallat
The “Taurin”, as some call it, brings together rich collections, both historically, ethnographically and artistically, with emblematic works by artists such as Goya, Picasso, no less, or of course Viallat. Unique pieces (light costumes of the greatest figures, in particular), testimonies of emblematic characters, memories of bullfights (the Tomas space, on the ground floor, is a setting for the immortal jewel of September 2012) or Camargue races… But also unusual or everyday objects, that of the breeders: the history blends into a culture still well anchored in the region.
The Bullfighting Cultures Museum of Nîmes presents a new temporary exhibition every year. Currently, “from aficion to collection” (to discover in video here). Guided tours, discovery trails and workshops for children are also offered.
By Mathieu Lagouanère
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Bullfighting Culture Museum of Nîmes, 6, rue 6 rue Alexandre Ducros. Open to all from the Feria from Pentecost to All Saints’ Day. Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The museum remains open all year round for groups, schools and other activities aimed at young people. Workshops for children are organized during school holidays (information and registration on 04 30 06 77 09). Tel. 04 30 06 77 07.
