Located at the foot of the Château de l’Empéri, the Nostradamus museum is housed in the house that Nostradamus bought in 1547 to settle his family there.
He aroused the curiosity of Queen Catherine de Medici
Michel de Nostredame said Nostradamus was born in Saint Rémy de Provence in 1503. He trained in the art of pharmacy and then medicine in Montpellier. After a long period of wanderings in the south-west of France, he married and settled in Salon-de-Provence in 1547. He then became famous thanks to his Prophecies published from 1555. Versed in the science of the stars, this humanist doctor aroused the curiosity of Queen Catherine de Medici whom he met in Paris in 1556 then at the Château de l’Emperi in 1564.
A house for his new family
This municipal museum, created in 1992, “House of writers and literary heritage” since 2006, is held in the house that Michel de NOSTREDAME, known as NOSTRADAMUS (1503-1566), widower of a first marriage, bought in 1547 for found a new family there with Anne PONSARD with whom he had 6 children. It is in this place that he completed all his works and that he ended his days some twenty years later, in 1566. After more than five centuries, some of his works have remained famous such as “The Treaty of Fardements and Jams” (1552-1555) and “The Prophecies” (1555-1557 …..) Respecting the line of conduct according to which, a sensible man, waits to be at the end of his life to write, and devoting himself to the transmission of knowledge, as was the case for the humanists of the Renaissance, he went so far as to put themselves in danger to pass on this knowledge.
A scientific and philosophical work
The Museum installed in this privileged place occupies only part of what was his house and offers visitors, thanks to a 45-minute audio-guided tour, the opportunity to discover Nostradamus, a 16th century “astrophile” doctor, spirit brilliant, scientist, philosopher, poet, visionary, rubbing shoulders with the greatest of his time: Rabelais, Catherine de Medici, Charles IX, Adam de Craponne…. The audio-guided tour traces, for 40 minutes, in 10 sound tables, with a small planetarium, the life of the great man as well as his scientific and philosophical work, from his childhood in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, his training as a doctor which allowed him to eradicate the plague, up to his predictions, through his study in Salon-de-Provence or the meeting with Queen Catherine de Medici. Temporary exhibitions (original documents from the 16th century, objects, etc.) highlight the various facets of the character or his time. National activities, European Night of Museums, Heritage Days, etc., are all opportunities for partnerships with other European museums, with our twin cities, universities or large libraries interested in the same subjects or wishing to cross themes. different.
Rue Nostradamus, 13300 Salon-de-Provence
