< FR >
"Le musée des santons des Baux-de-Provence est situé place Louis-Jou.
Le musée regroupe plusieurs types de santons : les santons de Provence sont les plus nombreux, mais le musée présente également des santons napolitains, du XVIIe siècle et XVIIIe siècle, ainsi que des santons d'églises du XIXe siècle, issus du couvent des carmélites d'Avignon.
Il expose les oeuvres de célèbres santonniers provençaux:
L'entrée du musée est ornée d'une toile d'Antoine Serra (1908-1995), conçue aux Baux-de-Provence, en 1947, ayant pour sujet la crèche de la messe provençale de minuit.
Source et informations complémentaires: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_des_Santons
< EN >
"The museum of 'santons' (figures for the Christmas crib) contains a vast number of exhibits including some outstanding figurines made in Naples, scenes illustrating the traditions of Provence and Les Baux linked to the Nativity and a documentary film on the manufacture of these figures.
The museum houses several different collections - Neapolitan figurines from the 17th and 18th centuries, 19th-century 'santons' for churches whose painted papier mâché faces and glass sulphur eyes were made by the Carmelite convent in Avignon and figures by famous makers such as Carbonnel, Fouque, Jouve, Peyron Campagna, Toussaint, Thérèse Neveu, Louise Berger, Simone Jouglas etc.
The traditional ceremony of the Shepherds' Offering, known locally as the "Pastrage", is staged against the background of Les Baux de Provence, in front of the village church. A traditional Provençal Christmas crib and the everyday life of a 19th-century family are shown in two large windows. For children, a crowd of small brightly-coloured, naively-painted santons is placed at a height that they can reach.
'Making a santon is like playing at being God the Father and, like Him, producing a man from clay.' This beautifully-phrased sentence by historian Marcel Provençal summarises the work of the santon-maker very well and expresses all the magic of creativity.
Source and further information:
www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/en/culture-patrimoine/2-museum-santons