Heritage Days: discovering the Baggage Museum in Haguenau, unique in Europe
In Haguenau, in Alsace, there is a unique museum in Europe: the luggage museum, a collection of nearly five hundred trunks and suitcases. The couple who collected these marvels will give restoration demonstrations during Heritage Days, this Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September.
The whole history of luggage through the ages is told at the Baggage Museum in Haguenau, thanks to the collection of Marie and Jean-Philippe Rolland. They have been trunk makers and have been passionate about trunks and suitcases for decades. In 2015, they entrusted part of their acquisitions to the city of Haguenau, which enhanced them by creating the Baggage Museum, the only one in Europe to develop this theme. On the occasion of the heritage days of Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September, Marie and Jean-Philippe will be at the museum and will offer demonstrations to visitors, in the afternoons from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For more than twenty years, Marie and Jean-Philippe have been buying, bartering and receiving trunks of all sizes, all origins and more or less precious. Created by talented craftsmen or big names in luggage such as Vuitton, Hermès, Goyard, or even Moynat, each trunk is different and has a unique story. Over the years and travels, the couple of collectors was able to acquire trunks from second-hand dealers, bargain hunters, antique dealers or private individuals and sometimes even by bartering their know-how. They come from Kalalumpur, London, Tokyo, Paris and some have belonged to kings, princes, actresses...
A rare and exceptional know-how
In January 2021, the trunk-makers of Haguenau "La Malle en coin" won the Living Heritage Company distinction, awarded by the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry and the National Institute of Trades. Art. Recognition of their know-how, rare and exceptional. This EPV label, little known in France, is greatly admired abroad. "We received congratulations from all over the world, but in France, very few people reacted." said Jean-Philippe smiling. Alongside the couple, whose reputation for excellence goes well beyond the borders of Alsace, another restorer, Marc Pirlet, also specialized in working with wood, leather, fabrics and metals. The two men have the largest stock of original spare parts in Europe to work with. Among their clients, famous personalities such as the family of footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic or the Vuitton family itself!
In the Rolland workshop in Haguenau, the restoration of a trunk always begins with cleaning, to expose the leather and clearly see the damaged parts. "You have to glue the leather back together, heal it, sometimes do a leather graft, reconstitute it with a kind of latex..." explains Jean-Philippe who knows how to recreate the nuances of leather with pigments, giving it back its original look. , without the appearance of new. With his colleague Marc, they restore simple trunks, estimated at 50 euros to luxury trunks of several tens, even hundreds of thousands of Euros.
A collection of 400 to 500 pieces entrusted to the city
Increasing in size and space, Jean-Philippe and Marie Rolland decided in 2015 to entrust 400 to 500 pieces to their city of Haguenau, which created the luggage museum for this purpose, in the former Banque de France. Since then, trunks and suitcases have been exhibited there like a treasure. And visitors are not mistaken. "Some come really far." rejoices the director of the city's museums, Dimitri Mathiot. "Again this summer, a couple of Russians made the detour via Haguenau to visit this museum." Visitors (Sanitary pass requested at the entrance) discover the use of luggage over the decades, in different social categories and professions. They can thus discover the ingenuity and originality of certain trunks, such as the one that allows you to prepare your tea in the middle of nowhere, to carry - neither seen nor known - the stroller of the youngest, or even the writing desk created for Arthur Conan Doyle etc.
For Dimitri Mathiot, director of the museums of Haguenau, this museum is a history book: "Here we dive into the evolution of modes of transport and the trunks that were carried by horse-drawn carriage, by boat, by plane. We discover also the society of itinerant merchants, the bourgeois who go on holiday to Deauville for a few months, the artists, the musicians who make their rounds, up to the trunk for the picnic on Sunday noon.
Marie Rolland comes regularly to discuss with the director of the museum. For her, this museum is a great way to showcase their collection. It's also a connection with the rest of the world: "What makes me happy is sharing with people who come from all over the world, French, Germans, Europeans, but also New Zealanders, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, in short, a very large audience". During the Heritage Days, the public will be able to discover these trunks, bags and suitcases, rare, ingenious, funny, surprising pieces... It's up to everyone to be amazed and set off on a journey through this luggage.
