THE MUSEUM
A CENTRE OF EXHIBITIONS AND ACTIVITIES
The Musée du Plâtre is housed in the municipal Musées Réunis building. The history and resources of Cormeilles form the backbone of the museum's activities, with special focus on subsurface resources—gypsum—and building materials, industrial applications, and the arts.
(Illustrated: part of the collection of original plaster works by the surrealist sculptor Georges Boulogne.)
The museum is closed to the public following its move from Cormeilles-en-Parisis. Our office and library are now located in Deuil-la-Barre (Val-d'Oise).
EDUCATIONAL VISIT TO A GYPSUM QUARRY
Le Pin-Villeparisis-Villevaudé Quarry (Seine-et-Marne)
Target audience: schools, students, researchers, associations
in partnership with Placoplatre
Programme for 2025 and visit conditions
LAST PUBLICATION ARTICLES FROM THE MUSÉE DU PLÂTRE No. 21
"Le plâtre en paléontologie" (The plaster in paleontology)
by Carla Tomas, Museu da Lourinha (Portugal)
Media coverage of the museum's future
Article in the Parisien, 18 January 2022
Article in La Gazette du Val-d'Oise, 12 October 2021
Future of a heritage property in Cormeilles-en-Parisis?
Article from Bulletin no. 87 of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, and Vexin
MUSÉE DU PLÂTRE NEWS
Publication: Fragilitas. Le plâtre et l'histoire de France (Fragilitas. Plaster and the History of France)
Author: Alain Corbin
Publisher: Plon - 144 pages
Historian Alain Corbin, a leading specialist of the 19th century, publishes a new book that intersects history and art history. Titled Fragilitas, it focuses on the role and significance of plaster in France in the first half of the 19th century...
Publication: Plâtres en majesté. L'univers du plâtre (Plasters in Majesty. The World of Plaste)
Authors: Georges-Louis Barthe (text) and Guillaume de Laubier (photos)
Publisher: Gourcuff Gradenigo - 240 pages
Here is a grand and beautiful book on plaster. Grand not just in its dimensions, and beautiful not only due to its rich iconography...
Publication: Les plâtrières du Val-d'Oise à travers les siècles (The Plaster Mines of Val-d'Oise Through the Centuries)
by Daniel Baduel - 480 pages, numerous colour documents - €35
Foreword by Vincent Farion (musée du Plâtre) - Download
MUSÉE DU PLATRE BOOKSTORE
The workshop offers children aged 4 to 12 an introduction to plaster. Plaster is an ideal material for exploring volume work, the pleasure of moulding or sculpting material. Children discover various techniques such as making moulds, creating reliefs from negatives in clay or plaster, or painting on plaster. The workshop benefits from two partners: Placoplatre factory in Cormeilles for Molda® plaster supply and Saint-Gobain Formula for providing T-shirts used as aprons by the children. The workshop operates during school holidays and can be 'privatised' for parties or birthdays.
Download the general catalogue
Les visiteurs de la carrière. 100 ans sur le terrain à Cormeilles-en-Parisis
(Visitors to the quarry. 100 years in the field in Cormeilles-en-Parisis)
by Jacques Hantraye - 202 pages, 320 illustrations, 30 maps and boxes - Price €35 + postage
Presentation and order form - Download
Les ports au plâtre. Le commerce du plâtre sur la Seine et l'Oise au XIXe siècle
(The plaster ports. The plaster trade on the Seine and Oise in the 19th century) - PDF
Jacques Hantraye - 212 pages, 225 illustrations, 90 maps and encadrés - Price €15 + postage
Placoplatre et autres histoires industrielles. Plâtres Lambert, Poliet & Chausson, SAMC, Plâtrières de Grozon, Isobox-Henry
(Placoplatre and other industrial stories. Plâtres Lambert, Poliet & Chausson, SAMC, Plâtrières de Grozon, Isobox-Henry)
Vincent Farion - Anabole Editions - 194 pages, 350 illustrations - Price: €29.90 + postage
Si la Carrière m'était contée. La plâtrière et les usines Lambert, le quatier et ses habitants à Cormeilles-en-Parisis (1832-2008)
(If the Quarry were told to me. The plaster mine and the Lambert factories, the district and its residents in Cormeilles-en-Parisis (1832-2008))
Vincent Farion - 52 pages - €12 + postage
GYPSUM QUARRY VISITS
Pin-Villeparisis-Villevaudé Quarry (Seine-et-Marne)
Educational visits reserved for secondary and higher education institutions, researchers, and associations
Operated by Placoplatre® (Saint-Gobain Group), the quarry produces 570,000 tonnes of gypsum annually to supply the plasterboard factory in Vaujours. The restoration and re-vegetation of the former quarry have transformed it into a biodiversity hotspot.
- Details and 2025 visit schedule
- Educational document: Biodiversity and quarries
Cormeilles-en-Parisis Quarry (Val-d'Oise)
Operated by Placoplatre® (Saint-Gobain Group), the Cormeilles-en-Parisis quarry produces 350,000 tonnes of gypsum annually. After nearly two centuries of open-pit mining, the quarry is now underground. Site restoration efforts since the 1980s include backfilling and re-vegetation, transforming it into a vast green space of over 100 hectares in the heart of the Paris Region, with 45 hectares already open to the public.
- Upcoming schedule (2025)
PLASTER WORKSHOP
Awaiting a new location
LA LETTRE BLANCHE (The White Letter)
The White Letter has been the Musée du Plâtre's newsletter since January 1996, replacing "Fer de Lance" from 1985 to 1995. It covers gypsum and plaster in all its forms: art, history, heritage, science, environment, economy, and professions. Since September 2009, it has been published in partnership with the Placoplatre Foundation. Its distribution reaches plaster stakeholders: professionals, artists, scientists, and historians.
La Lettre Blanche 56 - Download
Visitors to the quarry - Contents: Field education - Cormeilles, a reference site - Cormeilles quarry visit - Other visitors - The quarry on screen
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