MAH/Maison du négociant - The Cultural Distillers

La maison du négociant: musée d'art et d'histoire is housed in the elegant mansion of the Dupuy d'Angeac family, a cognac merchant. The charm of this 19th-century building is an unequivocal reminder of the glory days of cognac, when its eaux-de-vie began to be exported far beyond France's borders, contributing to the eponymous town's reputation.

While the professional and public sphere of the négociants is well known, the intimate sphere remains enigmatic to this day. The museum's itinerary offers a unique opportunity to delve into the intimacy of these merchants, while also evoking their role within the city of Cognac.

The richness of the collections allows us to recreate the ambience of a 19th-century townhouse, and show these merchants and their families through different worlds: travelling merchants bringing back souvenirs such as a Buddha or a mummy with its sarcophagus, archaeologist merchants contributing to the discovery of historic sites such as Herpes or the Bouchauds theater, collectors of paintings and sculptures as well as 17th-century Delft earthenware, eggshells, shells, fossils, strange collections, collections of oddities......