Musée de l’Abbaye Saint-Michel (Abbey)

This museum was created in 1997 in the sub-basement of the abbey palace to present collections of artworks and folk art. Formerly housed before the second world war in the château museum in the Foucaud Park then transferred in 1972 to the stately home of Pierre de Brens, the collections have since then benefitted from a professional museum framework.

While visiting the museum, one can discover the archaeological collections through the artefacts found during its restoration work : capitals from the 13th century, Gallo-Roman mosaics… All sorts of objects serve as an introduction to the origins of Gaillac, a thousand-year-old site. Visitors are then led on to a representation of the Gaillac gate to which the city owes its development.

The tour continues through a gallery devoted to the vine and wine, features that made the territory famous since antiquity. Various displays exhibiting the land and the equipment necessary for the different phases of working the on vines through to processing and transporting the wine make this a fantastic introduction to the world of winemaking.

Another gallery is devoted to glass and pottery production with a private collection of salt mortars decorated with engravings unique to the Tarn valley. A large room is dedicated to an impressive collection of objects related to the medieval guild system called “the compagnons”. This highly skilled corporation of craftsmen produced the precious artworks, engravings and portraits that are on display.

A room is devoted to sacred art objects that came from the Saint Michel abbey and the churches of Gaillac. There you will find a collection of statues from the medieval era up to the eighteenth century alongside liturgical vestments and religious articles.