Musée du Compagnonnage

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This extraordinary museum – an absolute gem! – spotlights France's renowned compagnonnages, guild organisations of skilled craftspeople who have created everything from medieval cathedrals to the Statue of Liberty. Dozens of professions – from carpentry to saddle-making to locksmithing – are celebrated here with items handcrafted from wood, wrought iron, bronze, stone, brick, clay and leather; standouts include exquisite wooden architectural models of elaborate towers and a miniature wrought-iron gate that took 14 years to make.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Église St-Julien

0.03 MILES

Most of this Gothic church, once part of a Benedictine abbey, dates from the mid-1200s.

2. Hôtel Gouïn

0.12 MILES

Hidden behind an Italianate façade, this gorgeous early-Renaissance residence – visible through a stone gate – was built for a wealthy merchant around…

4. Basilique St-Martin

0.3 MILES

In the Middle Ages, Tours was an important pilgrimage city thanks to the relics of soldier-turned-evangelist St Martin (c 317–97). In the 5th century a…

5. Tour de l’Horloge

0.32 MILES

One of the last vestiges of Tours' 13th-century, Romanesque Basilique St-Martin.

6. Cloître de la Psalette

0.33 MILES

This cloister, built from 1442 to 1524 – that's why it's partly Flamboyant Gothic and party Renaissance – is located on the north side of the Cathédrale…

7. Cathédrale St-Gatien

0.33 MILES

With its flying buttresses, gargoyles and twin Renaissance-style towers (70m) – and, inside, Gothic vaulting, dazzling stained glass and huge baroque…

8. Musée des Beaux-Arts

0.35 MILES

This superb fine-arts museum, in a gorgeous 18th-century archbishop’s palace, features paintings, sculpture, furniture and objets d'art from the 14th to…