The Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions

This museum tells the story of the village of Ainay-le-Vieil on the eve of the 1914 war.

In 1914, Ainay-le-Vieil had around 510 inhabitants. It's a lively village of farmers who have been working the land on their farms or tenant farms, usually for several generations. There are also a large number of craftsmen practicing mostly forgotten skills, and a "floating" population of boatmen and bargemen working with their barges on the Canal de Berry.

Created with the collaboration of Mayor Marie Sartin, the people of the village and neighboring villages, and the Musée Saint-Vic in Saint-Amand-Montrond, our museum is a tribute to a traditional France that has partly disappeared.

Many still remember the craftsmen of Ainay-le-Vieil

Two wheelwrights: Jean Giraudeau and Antoine Billon
Two farriers: Francois Riffault and Camille Boireau
Two carpenters: Albert Desalle and Ernest Jaillet
Five masons: Pierre Pupille, Marcelin Sartain, Jean-Marie Fayard, Jean Beaune, Albert Aucouturier
Two quarrymen: Desrez, Jean Magnard
One carpenter: Henri Bonnichon
Three shoemakers: Ernest Jaillet, Émile Blanchonnet, Arthur Larue

And then...

Three tailors, one helmet-maker, ten seamstresses
Two grocery stores selling everything from "La Rose Amiot" to "La Madeleine Pactat"
A tile and brickyard run by Émile Tixier
A miller: Blaise Delhomme
Three bakers: Francois Delhomme, Jean-Louis Aubailly, Ernest Piteau
Two innkeepers: Alfred Lampérière and Andre Mazet "On foot, on horseback and by car".

And also...

Alfred Lampérière, the hurdy-gurdy player, and Jean-Baptiste Fourdachon, the accordionist, get the whole village dancing at every festival.