MUSEUM OF THE MONT DE PIÉTÉ & THE CONDITION OF THE SILKS
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Museum with a room where you can see a drying bank decorated with Chinese motifs, evoking the work of silk
France's oldest pawnshop is just over 400 years old... It was in 1610 that the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Lorette, whose aim was to help the poor, launched the principle of a "charity bank" so that the needy could escape the usurers. She imported the pawnbroking system from Italy, where it had existed since 1462! Like all the other pawnshops in France, it was ruined by the Revolution, when a law passed in 1794 stipulated that "linen, clothes, tablecloths, clothing, tools..." had to be disposed of free of charge. In 1801, to replenish its treasury, its administrators created the Condition des Soies. This was a building equipped with systems designed to remove the moisture contained in the silk thread, in order to sell silk conditioned to optimum quality, by weight and at the right price. La Condition des Soies closed in 1928, when the manufacture of new synthetic fibers led to the end of silkworm breeding and the closure of the many silk spinning mills in the Vaucluse region. The pawnshop, which became a municipal credit office in 1918, remained in this 17th and 18th century building until 1985, when it was moved to Place Viala. In 1986, the municipal archives were transferred here. The museum comprises just one room, where you can see a drying bank decorated with Chinese motifs evoking silk working, and the names of prestigious donors engraved in marble.
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