If you know a little bit about France and French movies, you surely know that Louis de Funès was and still is kind of a big deal. Mr. de Funès was one of the funniest and most successful actors in France especially from the 1950s until the 70s. His most famous role was playing the gendarme in Saint Tropez of which several different episodes were published. I just love those old movies and he really was a very funny actor.
So the main police building, the Gendarmerie, in Saint Tropez which still exists today has been one of the original sets. Years after those movies, people have come to Place Blanqui to take a photo in front of the famous Gendarmerie, although the front of the building and the letters of “Gendarmerie” didn’t look as good as they used to.
Only recently the city of Saint Tropez has renovated the building and by the end of June the “Musée de la Gendarmerie et du Cinéma” was opened. Most of the museum is dedicated to Louis de Funès and his St. Tropez movies but some parts of the museum also show different exhibitions or show exhibits of other French movies with famous French actresses like the one and only…Brigitte Bardot.
When we entered the museum we first went through an exhibition of photographs which a photographer has taken at the Côte d’Azur back in the 50s and 60s. He photographed legends like Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn or Gunter Sachs.
The first floor was dedicated to the famous “gendarme”, actor Louis de Funès and his “squad” 😉 from The Gendarme of St. Tropez movies. The room was furnished in the way it looked in the movies and there were also lots of props from the movie.
Then there was this little version of the Gendarmerie de Saint Tropez. A dollhouse that showed how the interior of the building looked like at the time the movie was filmed.
Movie posters and scenes of the movies were shown throughout the museum.
It felt a little bit like I was on the set of a movie and being there where some of the most famous French movies were filmed, of course I had to take a photo in this historical place in France’s history of cinema 😉
Louis de Funès as a life-sized bronze statue.
In the next room you could see several dedications and congratulations from the actors themselves or from celebrities (most of them French celebs) that were written for the opening of the museum.
My idol and role model, Brigitte Bardot was one of them 🙂
In the next room they even had a model of the car they used in the movies. So cool!
The second and last floor of the museum was dedicated to movie icons such as Brigitte Bardot and Romy Schneider.
Me on the seat of Brigitte Bardot 🙂
The museum is open from 10 AM to 6 PM (Last entrance at 5:30 PM) every day (except January 1st, from January 15 to February 1st, May 1st and 17, December 25).
A ticket costs 4 € and only 2 € for 12-18 year olds, students under 26. Children that are younger than 12 years old can visit for free.
For more information click here.
Have you already heard about the museum or even visited it? Let me know in the comments below!
Have a great weekend!
xx
Alissa
