Musée du Cloître: A Glimpse into Tulle's Past

The Musée du Cloître is situated within the historic Cloître de Tulle, a religious complex adjacent to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Tulle. The cloister dates back to the 13th century and showcases a blend of Gothic architectural elements and later reconstructions. For centuries, the Musée du Cloître de Tulle, also known as the Musée municipal d'Art et d'Histoire du pays de Tulle, served as a repository of art and history, housing collections that reflected the discoveries and stories of Tulle and its surrounding region.Though the museum itself is currently closed as its collections are being transferred to the new Cité de l'accordéon et des patrimoines de Tulle (Accordion and Heritage City of Tulle), which opened in April 2024 , the Cloître de Tulle remains open to visitors. The site's origins trace back to the 4th century, with the founding of the first monastery attributed to Saint Martin of Tours. The abbey, inseparably linked to Saint Calmine de Laguenne in the 6th and 7th centuries, also enjoyed the patronage of Clement VI, the Magnificent, a Pope of Avignon who originated from the region.Visitors can still appreciate the Gothic architecture of the 13th-century Abbaye Saint-Martin-et-Saint-Michel, which adjoins the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Tulle. The galleries of the cloister display a mix of 13th-century Gothic features and later restorations resulting from reconstruction efforts that began in the late 19th century.