The museum’s collections 

The Tatihou island Maritime museum opened its doors on june 5, 1992. It was created to house collections of maritime ethnology and archaological artifacts recovered from the shipwrecks at La Hougue (Battle of May-June 1692). For this reason, it has been listed as one of the Musées De France since November 1991.

The museum’s cultural and scientific program quickly expanded to include the following themes :

• Maritime history and ethnography of the lower Normandy coast : focusing mainly on the technical, economic, and social history of fishing, oyster farming, and shipbuilding, as well as the history of coastal development and usage. The collection consists of objects and iconigraphic materials.
• Natural history of the coastline : including terrestrial coastal flora and marine fauna and flora.
• Terrestrial archaeology : featuring results from archaeological excavations carried out on Tatihou Island.
• Fine arts : the fine arts collection at Tatihou supports the museum’s ethnographic collections and local maritime history.
• Historical archives : a collection of approximately 200 printed works and manuscripts complements these themes. Nearly 100 of these date from before 1800.

Online collection Database

A selection of paintings, drawings, and engravings from the Tatihou museums can be found on Joconde extern link, the database of French Museums. Select « Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue : Musée maritime de l’île Tatihou » from the list of museums in lower Normandy.