Founded
in 1950 by the French Museums Authority, the Tobacco Museum of national
interest was reorganized in 1982 according to new organizational and
display norms in premises renovated by the town of Bergerac and called
“Maison Peyrarède”. This 17th Century hotel was built
in full transition between the Renaissance and Classical periods and
is one of the architectural jewels of Bergerac. It was inaugurated
in January 1983 and, since then, has instigated a varied and personalized
policy of exhibitions. These will be extended as research is carried
out into the vast and diverse fields of tobacco anthropology. The
cultural history is shown in four permanent exhibition rooms.
Room I - Usages and functions of tobacco in Pre-Columbian America.
Tobacco was an eminently cultural plant for native American civilisations,
which spread to Africa through slave trading (end of the 16th Century).
Room II - Arrival of tobacco in Europe around 1560. The sacred
plant became medicinal and then an object of pleasure. The first and
most widespread method of consumption in France was in the form of
snuff.
Room III - Consumption of tobacco in the 19th Century inspired craftsmen's imaginations and various materials were used such as meerschaum, glass, ears of corn etc... for countless cigar- or cigarette holders, or tobacco jars.
Room IV - This room is devoted to the techniques for manufacturing
objects used for smoking throughout history and the world.
