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Location Category ID:
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6200
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Added to Database:
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May 2008
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Last Edited:
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13 September 2009
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Address: |
1043 Route de Fontevraud, 49400 Saumur
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Telephone: |
02 41 83 69 95
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Email: |
museedesblindes [at] wanadoo.fr (Replace [at] with @)
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Opening Times: |
1000-1700 Mon-Fri, 1100-1800 Sat-Sun-Holidays, January-April, October-December
1000-1800 May-June, September, School holidays
0930-1830 July-August
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Official Website: |
Le Musée des Blindés
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Other Links: |
5 Star
Le Chapy
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Latitude, Longitude: |
47.24376975
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-0.07226944
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Location Accuracy: |
6
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Tanks Previously Here: |
1: Panzerkampfwagen IV Tank - Musée Août 1944, Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France (Seen between 1982 and 1994 but gone by 1999)
2: Panzerkampfwagen IV Tank - Auto und Technik Museum, Sinsheim, Rhine Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Until early 1990s)
3: Hummel Self-Propelled Howitzer - BWB Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung, Koblenz, Koblenz District, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (Until 1984/5)
4: Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär Assault Gun - Panzermuseum, Munster, Soltau-Fallingbostel, Lower Saxony, Germany (1940s - 1990s)
5: Panther Tank - 501-503 RCC, Mourmelon-le-Grand, North East France, France (Seen between 1982 and 2001)
6: Panther Tank - Royal Tank Museum, Aqaba, Aqaba Governorate, Jordan (Until 2010)
7: Panther Tank - Musée Août 1944, Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France (Seen in 1982 and 1984 but gone by 1995)
8: Panther Tank - Auto und Technik Museum, Sinsheim, Rhine Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Until about 1980)
9: Jagdpanther Tank Destroyer - BWB Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung, Koblenz, Koblenz District, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (Until 1984/85)
10: AMX-13/75 Light Tank - The Tank Museum - Public Areas, Bovington, Dorset, South West England, Britain (Until April 1969)
11: ARL-44 Heavy Tank - 501-503 RCC, Mourmelon-le-Grand, North East France, France (At least 1982-1992)
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The French Armoured Corps and Cavalry School is located in the town of Saumur, which is about 46km south-east of Angers, on the south bank of the River Loire. In 1965 an Armoured Vehicle Documentation Centre (Centre de Documentation des Engins Blindés, C.D.E.B.) was created in the School, to be responsible for collecting, restoring and preserving prototype and production armoured vehicles. This was achieved largely through the work of one man, the late Colonel Aubry. The many armoured vehicles that have since been collected by the AVDC have for many years been on display as the Saumur Armour Museum; Colonel Aubry was its first director. Most of these vehicles were housed in three main buildings; the General Patton Hall, the General Estienne Hall and the Rommel Hall (the Rommel Hall was closed to the general public). These buildings were military hangars on loan from the Armoured Corps and Cavalry School, but provision had been made for the construction of special museum buildings in plans for the modernisation of the School. Some years ago, therefore, a new building was acquired on the outskirts of Saumur, just outside the School, and this was used to display about forty of the vehicles in the collection. It was opened on 30 May 1987 and featured a video room, a souvenir and book shop and various rooms exhibiting armaments, optics, transmissions, and dioramas. This building was named Bossut Hall and was the only one open to the public at the time. In 1993 the museum moved to a larger building, the General Estienne hall, at its current location.
The Saumur collection of vehicles is spread over various areas of the School, such as the maintenance hangars. These vehicles are generally awaiting restoration or maintenance, which are carried out by the School. Some of the vehicles in running order are kept in a covered French Army area at another location in Saumur. This area is not open to members of the public. As well as armoured vehicles the Armour Museum has many tank guns, mantlets, engines and turrets on display and in storage. Photography is not allowed inside any of the buildings.The Saumur Museum is very proud of its collection of operational vehicles which take part in frequent displays and commemorations. It has more such vehicles than any other museum in the world despite the fact that it is one of the youngest major armoured vehicle museums. The Museum puts a high priority on returning vehicles to running order and then maintaining them. It is also prepared to run these vehicles quite often in public displays, unlike other museums which are loath to risk such vehicles breaking down, with all the attendant repair work and spare part acquisition that entails.
The museum is able to restore and maintain its operational vehicles because of its farsighted policy of collecting and storing huge amounts of spare parts for its vehicles just in case they should one day be needed. The main store for the Museum’s spare parts and equipment is at Chanzy, near Mans, which has reached capacity. It holds 200 vehicles and about 1000 tonnes of spare parts. Many of the vehicles are tracked and include several examples of M4 Sherman 105mm Tanks and M24 Chaffee and AMX-13 Light Tanks (one of these M24s is experimental and has been fitted with a new gun and mantlet and other fittings).
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