Musée dauphinois

The museum was created in 1906 thanks to the initiative of its first curator Hippolyte Müller, who sought to "link the first inhabitants of the region to those who still live here today." The Dauphinois museum is located in what was once the Sainte Marie d'en Haut convent. Classified as a historical monument, the complex was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by saint Francis de Sales and saint Jeanne de Chantal. After an eventful history, which saw the building used as a prison, religious boarding school, barracks, and immigrant housing, the building was restored for the 1968 winter Olympics in Grenoble. The Dauphinois museum, in its current location, was inaugurated that same year by André Malraux.

As a genuine regional museum of mankind, the Dauphinois museum looks at all the aspects of life and history in the old Dauphiné province, and on a wider scale, in the French Alps. Archeology, pre-history and history, ethnology, industrial heritage, and regional decorative arts are just some of the fields that this museum deals with.

Other than The People of the Alp and The Grand History of Skiing, the Dauphinois Museum does not house a permanent exhibit. Instead, it renews its offer every six to twelve months, with exhibits on regional heritage, the Dauphiné, the Alps, but also on foreign cultures.

A social museum, the Dauphinois museum believes that heritage and history worth our attention simply because they allow us to answer questions about today's society, to understand the movements of our time, and to express the wealth and diversity of various cultures over space and over time.