Mariners Museum

Guided tour of this museum which revolves around three strong themes: traditional towing boats (horse-drawn on the river), 18th century frescoes and the necropolis church with its mandulons.

The museum is located in the old Saint-Sornin church from the 12th century, whose chestnut frame (14th century) was built as a “barque end”, certainly by sailors.

Paintings updated at the beginning of the 21st century adorn the walls of the church (some from the 14th century). This museum contains sailors' crosses, old nautical jousting breastplates, as well as various tools used by Rhône sailors.

In one wing of the church-museum are the “mandulons”. These are hundreds of bones including 4 mummified bodies, here since the 17th century. For a long time the mystery hung over these bodies. Victims of epidemics? Wars of religion? It seems that in fact these bones came from a mass grave, whose former “occupants” were stored there.

The mummified bodies would have been the deceased transferred here, because the cemetery was submerged by a flood of the Rhône. The particular hydrometry of this place would have allowed natural mummification of these corpses.

Pet Friendly : no