I tested it for you

Time travel

at the Musée de la Vie d'Autrefois et du Tarare

A few weeks ago, I visited the Musée de la Vie d’Autrefois et du Tarare, in the company of Anny and Jean-Louis. Located in Racour (Lincent) in the heart of Hesbaye since 1995, the museum presents the daily life of the region…
At last, what it was like 100 years ago!

Justine Toussaint

Ambassadrice
Terres-de-Meuse

Ju on the road

Through 8 different rooms, we can discover what daily life was like a hundred years ago, agriculture before mechanization, daily life, school, festivals. There are also workshops for children, such as bread-making.

So it’s Anny who greets me with a smile, in what was once the village bar, the last estaminet. She explains that it used to be the heart of the village, a meeting place for the locals, with its landlady Simone, a soccer fan. You can see this in the many cups, badges and club flags on the shelves… And you can imagine the atmosphere and the evenings back then.

Immerse yourself in everyday life

100 years ago

Here we go! We go upstairs to Alphonse and Clémentine’s kitchen, represented by mannequins seated at the table. Anny shows me a series of objects. Thanks to them, I (re)discover how to cook, bake bread and wash clothes before electricity. It’s incredible! Anny tells me a series of anecdotes, with a great deal of humor, while I plunge completely into the life of yesteryear.

We climb another floor to immerse ourselves in the school of yesteryear. The classroom of yesteryear retains its equipment, wooden benches and slates. We can see a few photos of schoolchildren… who didn’t look very happy! Normal, with those dark grey uniforms… And then you couldn’t smile in the photos, poor things!”

Understanding the agriculture of yesteryear

The next room highlights the work of horses and oxen, and their functions in the fields. It’s amazing to compare today’s industrial agriculture with the farming trades of yesteryear.

We continue into the large tarares room, where Jean-Louis joins us for the rest of the tour. He explains with passion and expertise that it was here, in this former factory (very famous and renowned at the time), that they were made. But first… Do you know what a tarare is? In agriculture, this strange machine was used to clean grain after threshing, thanks to a ventilation system operated either manually or by a motor. Today’s combine harvester has eliminated the need for tarares. But if you’d like to take a look, the museum has a large and beautiful collection of them!

A temporary exhibition room

Recently renovated, the building now boasts an exhibition room showcasing local artists. The visit ends at Café Simone, the village’s last estaminet, where we chat for a while over a drink… I wasn’t expecting it, but I really enjoyed my visit to the Musée de la Vie d’Autrefois! It was very enriching, and even moving at times… I really recommend it, even (and especially) with children! Adapted tours and a hands-on ‘grain to bread’ workshop are even available for schools.

A nice dip into the past with the family guaranteed!

Would you like to live this experience?

Musée de la Vie d'Autrefois et du Tarare

Replongez-vous dans la vie quotidienne il y a 100 ans !