Returning from the Alps, oldgreytravel decided to pay another visit to the beautiful city of Troyes. Apart from the delight of visiting one of the most attractive towns in France, the main incentive was to visit the recently opened stained glass museum, the Cite du Vitrail.
Stained glass has always been a passion of oldgreytravel, so the opportunity to visit this new state of the art museum set in the heartland of the craft was irresistible. The Aube, the area surrounding Troyes, is the world epicentre of the stained glass craft. It is here that the skills and craftsmanship was developed in the early middle ages. The destruction wrought by the Hundred Years War led to a massive boost in church rebuilding (1480-1550) with the consequent demand for stained glass to decorate the windows. Further expansion and rebuilding in the C19 led to another boom period.
In the First World War, the area escaped the ravages that were wrought upon parts of north-east France where much of the stained glass was destroyed. In 1939, with this in mind, the master glaziers of the Aube organized the removal of most of the area’s stained glass to the relative safety of the South of France. As a result, there is no region of Europe with more stained glass than the Aube.
The Cite du Vitrail opened its doors as recently as December 2022. It is located in the west wing of the C18 Hotel Dieu Le Comte in the centre of Troyes. Originally built as a hospital and in continuous use till 1953. It latterly became a residential care home until they vacated in 1990. The building remained vacant until in 2011, the Department of the Aube decided to create a state of the art museum celebrating the area’s contribution to the art of stained glass. The fund raising and painstaking restoration and conversion of the historic building took 11 years to complete. The result is spectacular, not only a beautifully restored C18 mansion, but a purpose-designed home for the presentation and study of the art of stained glass.
The tour starts with the apothecary shop of the old C18 hospital, one of the finest in all France. It has survived virtually untouched, its walls stacked with rare and original pill boxes and earthenware jars. The stained glass tour starts at the top floor taking visitors past the spectacular contemporary glass chandelier that fills the stairwell. The exhibits broadly follow the chronology of stained glass production and design with the collection being particularly rich with examples from the C16, but has exquisite examples from across the full range of style and age, The earliest being an extremely rare C12 panel from the Romanesque Troyes Cathedral, once thought lost but discovered at an auction in 2018 and purchased for the museum. The hospital chapel has been restored and now serves as a location for temporary exhibitions. When oldgreytravel visited, there was a display of windows intended for Notre Dame in Paris, designed in the 1920’s but not completed till 1939 and never installed.
The range and quality of the exhibits is exceptional, the setting in the converted mansion impressive and together they make a most memorable experience. Being located within the Aube and Troyes itself, also allows the opportunity for visitors to see examples in situ in the surrounding area and the museum have created a stained glass trail to help visitors do just that. Another worthy addition to oldgreytravel’s Great Small Museums of the World.
