Museum of Apt

The Museum for the town of Apt in the south-east of France – also called the Musée de l'Aventure Industrielle – concentrates on the industries of the area. Three important industries grew up here based on three natural resources – fruit, ochre and clay. The museum is inside part of the factory of Marliagues founded in 1873 for making candied-fruit confectionary. It includes a complete workshop, displays of equipment and examples of advertising and labels. Visitors can follow the process from preparing the fruit to boiling it in syrup, draining, frosting with sugar and drying. For 200 years, ochre was extracted in the area and made into pigments that were exported worldwide. Artefacts associated with mining, processing and marketing of ochre are displayed. Finally, the museum traces the clay industries of Apt from the 17th century to the present, with hundreds of examples of pottery, bricks, tiles and other ceramic objects.