The Leather and Tannery Museum

Housed in the former Tennesson tannery, which worked from 1597 to 1978, this museum celebrates the town of Château-Renault’s leather-making history. At its peak in the nineteenth century over twenty tanneries were located along the river here and Château-Renault had the nickname ‘City of Leather’. The museum was begun in 1985. It has a collection of over 1,000 objects, including traditional tools and machines displayed alongside the surviving tanning pits and working floors of the building. The museum’s eight rooms guide visitors through the stages of leather making: the salting, soaking and rinsing of the skins before they were fleshed and shaved, and then the various tanning processes and operations for working the finished leather. The final room displays a plaque made by the city’s tanners and artisans for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Workshops are organised throughout the year where visitors can learn how to punch and mould leather.