Partnerships with permanente structures

Musée des Arts et métiers, Paris
From 1997 to 2000, IHA took part in the engineering museum’s renovation under a partnership with Pechiney. Its involvement took the following forms:
- Recommendations on the presentation of aluminium in the permanent exhibition
- Catalogue of aluminium parts in the museum’s collections
- Organisation of major donation of items that reflect the most recent uses of aluminium or are of great historical interest
- Advice and monitoring for the design of a model of a current electrolysis cell
- Participation in creation of a multimedia terminal on materials.

Espace Alu, Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne (Savoie, France)
In the “Aluminium Valley”, where a smelter was started in 1892 and where 6 plants were established, Espace Alu purposes, since October 29, 2007, to visitors to discover the industrial and identity heritage of the Maurienne Valley (in the French Alps).
Through a playful and interactive exhibition, this interpretation centre, the only one in Europe, retraces the adventure of aluminium in all its aspects (scientific, economic, industrial, cultural and social) from the origins until today by many documents of quality (testimonies, videos, objects and photographs).
The Institute, a member of the management committee of the museum, has followed all the stages of the creation of this exhibition centre:
- Participation in both the piloting committee and the scientific committee,
- Participation in the writing and the validation of texts (description cards, panels, etc.)
- Choice and scanning of more than a hundred iconographic documents,
- Making available digitalized oral testimonies,
- Organisation of a loan of sixty objects from the Jean Plateau – IHA Collection,
- The former Scientific Secretary of IHA, who followed the project for the Institute, is the official coordinator of this public project, promoted (with other people) by the Association du musée mauriennais de l’aluminium (Association of the Museum of Aluminium in the Maurienne).

Practical information
Opening time:

From February 7 to June 30, 2009: Open, except on Mondays and Saturdays, from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 02:00 to 06:30.
July and August: Open, except on Saturdays, from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 1:30 to 7:00.
Closed on May 1st.

Entry prices:
5 euros: adult / senior
4 euros: student, unemployed, Pass'Maurienne, group from 10 people
3 euros: children from 7 to 18 years old
Free: for children under 7 years old

For groups and guided visit: Only on reservation and from 20 people, every days from 9:00 to 12:30 and 2:00 to 6:00.
Entry prices:
5 euros: adult / senior
3,5 euros: school / holiday centre

Contact:

Espace Alu
Maryline Tranchant
Espace Alu — Place de l'Église — 73140 Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne — France
Phone: 33 (0)4 79 56 69 59 — Fax : 33 (0)4 79 59 26 42
Email: info@espacealu.fr

Website: www.espacealu.fr

Current Projects
IHA is currently a partner in several cultural centre projects as a member of steering or scientific committees.

The Musée des Gueules rouges project in Tourves (Var, France) for a museum on bauxite mining, particularly in the Brignoles area, and the resulting activities, so far has a prefiguration room.

The Pomel project, in Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme, France) was launched in 2006. It is intended to restore a wing of the former bishop’s palace to present the heritage of this central French town. This would include Auvergne Roman art, of which Saint-Austremoine abbey is a good example, as well as aluminium, which is converted in the Alcan plant that makes parts for aircraft such as the Caravelle, Concorde and Airbus A380.