CULTURE
1.( page précédente) Le musée Naval de Mahébourg vu depuis l’ allée principale...
2.... et de l’ intérieur.
3. Le musée de la Photographie à Port-Louis.
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4. L’ immense hangar de l’ Aventure du Sucre.
1.( previous page) Naval Museum of Mahébourg seen from the main driveway …
2. and from inside.
3. The Mauritius Photography Museum in Port Louis.
4. L’ Aventure du Sucre’ s huge hangar
Jean de Robillard, le musée est inscrit au patrimoine national. Le parquet grince et les murs suintent d’ une histoire mouvementée, remplie d’ envahisseurs et de batailles navales. La plus grande d’ entre toutes restera à jamais celle du Grand Port( région de Mahébourg) en août 1810. Un tournant de l’ histoire mauricienne. La bataille opposa férocement Français et Britanniques, et reste considérée comme la plus grande victoire navale française durant le régime napoléonien. Une défaite qui s’ avérera victorieuse pour le camp anglais. La Royal Navy reviendra en effet trois mois plus tard pour conquérir définitivement l ' île Maurice, alors appelé Isle de France depuis 1715. Considérée comme « l’ étoile et la clé de l’ océan Indien » l’ île est rebaptisée Mauritius et demeurera anglaise jusqu’ en 1968, date de la proclamation de l’ indépendance de l ' île Maurice.
Notepads handy, Luxury Mauritius hits the road once again and heads towards the three emblematic museums of the island. From Mahébourg to Pamplemousses, without leaving out Port Louis, to keep alive the founding history of present-day Mauritius.
It is no coincidence that the legendary novelist, Joseph Conrad, named Mauritius“ The sweet pearl of the Indian Ocean”. At a time as precious as gold, sugar has remained, since the arrival of the first explorers, a key resource of the island. Its history, intimately linked to that of Mauritius, has been expertly traced by the L’ Aventure du Sucre museum. Located between Port-Louis and Grand Baie, not far from the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden, stands a huge hangar of 5000m 2 amidst Flamboyant trees. Formerly dedicated to indigo dye manufacture and converted into a sugar factory in the 18 th century, the estate ceased operations in 1999 to find new use as a museum that has become the pedagogical and cultural emblem of the island. Four hundred years of history are traced and documented; from the discovery of the island in 1547 by Pedro de Mascarenhas to its independence in 1968.
A more recent chapter of Mauritian history has also been preserved thanks to Tristan Bréville, the saviour of the Mauritian photographic heritage who founded the Museum
of Photography in 1966, at the age of 21. Housed in a 17 th- century building at the end of the magnificent Rue du Vieux Conseil, a paved pedestrian alley facing the Port-Louis Theatre, his museum shelters one of the finest collections in the Indian Ocean. A unique place which conceals treasures such as this daguerreotype( the ancestor of the photographic process) of a Mauritian couple dated 1842! The museum, which celebrates its 50 th anniversary this year, comprises more than a thousand cameras, including the very first camera lens sold in Paris in 1939 and bought by a Mauritian. A rarely known fact: Mauritius is a pioneering island insofar as photography is concerned. This explains the fabulous collection of old films and photos that have immortalised the old days of Mauritius: from day-to-day life scenes in Port-Louis to photographs depicting the arrival of coolies, these Indian indentured labourers who came to Mauritius after the abolition of slavery. 462,000 of them will set foot at the Aapravasi Ghat in Port-Louis between 1835 and 1920.
Let’ s now head south, to Mahébourg! A wonderful village that has kept its wild and authentic charm, and where the atmosphere is imbued with history. Set in this exceptional location is the notso-known Naval Museum of Mahébourg. Established since 1950 in an old colonial house built around 1760 and occupied at that time by the Grand Port District Commander, Jean de Robillard, the museum is a listed national heritage site. As the walls become oozy and the floors creak, they testify of an eventful history made of countless invaders and naval battles. One of the greatest of these battles was that of Grand Port( a region in Mahébourg), which took place in 1810 and marked a turning point for Mauritius. Ferociously fought by the French and the British, this battle is considered as one of the greatest French naval victories during the Napoleonic regime. For the British side, this defeat will eventually be a harbinger of victory, the Royal Navy coming back three months later to definitely conquer Mauritius, which had since 1715 been known as Isle de France. Considered as“ The star and key of the Indian Ocean”, the island was renamed Mauritius and it remained under British rule until 1968: the year of the declaration of its independence.
136 LUXURY MAURITIUS