" Drôles de meubles, ça déménage avec le mobilier national ! "

As medieval fortresses facing the Atlantic, the towers of La Rochelle were once the homes of captains and their families.

Of these once-inhabited interiors, no trace remains of their furnishings and daily uses.

By hosting the Mobilier National's Les Aliénés collection, the Tour de la Chaîne is once again, for a brief moment, an urban dungeon.

Decommissioned and no longer of heritage value, these pieces of furniture have been given a new lease of life by the reinterpretation work of visual artists. Metamorphosed, they have regained their presence by offering a new reading of this forgotten captain's residence through the prism of contemporary creation.

Each piece has been chosen to resonate with the place and suggest a contemporary evocation of what might have been, the Captain's study or a more confidential space. Everyone is invited to give free rein to their sensibilities and imaginations.

Drawing on their talent, inventiveness and expertise, Céline Bachelot, Céline Camilleri, Sara Favriau, Anne Freisz and Laurent Poumarat, Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman, Anne-Cécile Lopez and Aline Putot-Toupry are committed to an eco-responsible approach and have contributed to the creation of a unique and daring collection.

The Centre des monuments nationaux is presenting a series of exhibitions entitled Drôles de meubles, ça déménage avec le Mobilier national! at three monuments, offering the public the chance to discover 52 works from the collections of the Mobilier national, creating a dialogue between a historic setting and furniture revisited by contemporary artists, at the Château de Châteaudun from 8 May to 8 November 2026, at the Tour de la Chaîne in La Rochelle from 14 May to 11 November 2026, and at the Château ducal in Cadillac from 22 May to 15 November 2026.

This initiative is part of the Mobilier National's Les Aliénés programme, which gives contemporary artists - visual artists, designers and craftspeople - carte blanche to reinterpret antique furniture.

The result is a brand new collection that is surprising, daring and offbeat, where innovation meets fantasy.

These colourful pieces will playfully refurnish the bare spaces of the Chaîne tower in La Rochelle, reminding us that these medieval fortresses facing the Atlantic were once inhabited interiors. They will also revamp the furnishings of the flats in the Château ducal de Cadillac and the Château de Châteaudun, shaking them up with spirit.

The result of the merger of the Mobilier National and the Cité de la Céramique - Sèvres & Limoges, the Manufactures nationales was created on¹ January 2025 to promote the excellence of French know-how and highlight the wealth of this tangible and intangible heritage, with more than 53 art professions practised within its manufactures and workshops.

The only one of its kind in the world, this new public centre dedicated to the decorative arts, arts and crafts and design combines heritage and creativity to play a central role in implementing the national strategy to promote arts and crafts. Its work focuses on 6 priority areas: training; research; creation; support for the fragile eco-system of arts and crafts; promoting heritage; and international dissemination of expertise.

Heir to four centuries of history, it is made up of : 2 museums (the Musée national de céramique in Sèvres; the Musée national Adrien Dubouché in Limoges), 9 factories and design workshops (including the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, the Manufacture de tapisserie des Gobelins; the Manufacture de tapisserie de Beauvais; the Manufacture de tapis de Savonnerie; the lace workshops in Alençon and Le Puy-en-Velay; the Atelier de recherche et de création en mobilier contemporain), 7 restoration workshops and a furniture mission.

With its sights firmly set on the regions, this public-sector centre has offices in 8 départements: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine (Sèvres), Hérault (Lodève), Creuse (Aubusson), Orne (Alençon), Haute-Loire (Puy-en-Velay), Haute-Vienne (Limoges) and Oise (Beauvais).