- Musée des Blindés
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The oldest tank in running condition in the world, a Schneider CA1 (1916), participates in the annual Carrousel at Saumur.
The Musée des Blindés or Musée Général Estienne is a tank museum located in the Loire Valley of France, in the city of Saumur. It is one of the world's largest tank museums.
The museum has the world's largest collection of armoured fighting vehicles and contains well over 880 vehicles, although the British Bovington Tank Museum has a larger number of tanks. Less than a quarter can be exhibited due to space limitations despite the move to a much larger building in 1993. Over 200 of the vehicles are fully functional, in the past often performing in the annual cavalry show, the Carrousel. Saumur has been the traditional training centre for cavalry and holds the current Armoured Cavalry Branch Training School. The museum has its origins in the study collection. It's still a State institution, run by the Army. There is also a separate cavalry museum at Saumur.
Exhibited vehicles
Armoured vehicles are presented in 11 theme rooms. This section gives the highlights.
- First World War
- 4 French vehicles are presented, some still in running conditions: Schneider CA1, St Chamond, Renault FT-17 and a Renault truck
- French Campaign 1940
- All the main armoured vehicles in service in the French army are presented: Hotchkiss H39, Renault Char B1 bis, Somua S35 AMR 33 and Renault R35 amongst others.
- Germany World War II
- 28 well preserved German tanks are shown, including several Marder, Panzer II, Panzer III, Panzer IV, Tiger I, Tiger II, Jagdpanzer and Panther
- Allied World War II
- US (M3 Lee, M4 Sherman, GMC DUKW "Duck"), British (Matilda, Crusader, Churchill tank Mk V) as well as Soviet vehicles (T-34, SU-100) are exhibited.
- Curiosity Room
- This rooms includes some very odd vehicles, such as a Vespa 150 TAP carrying a 105 mm recoilless rifle, and some vehicles transformed for historical movies
- Warsaw Pact
- A BMP-1, T-54, T-62, BTR-70, BRDM-2 and T-72 are the highlights of this section. Some of these are captured intact Iraqi tanks during the first Gulf War.
- NATO
- British (Centurion, Chieftain, Conqueror), US (M26 Pershing, M47 Patton, M48 Patton, M60 Patton) and German tanks (Leopard I, Leopard II) are featured.
- Post World War II France
- There are some interesting and sometimes rare items in this section, including the ARL 44, AMX 50, AMX 40, AMX 30 with nuclear tipped Pluton rocket, as well as more mainstream models such as AMX 13, AMX 10 P, AMX 10 RC, AMX 30 and Leclerc.
All experimental French military vehicles where development has been abandoned are kept here. The vast storage rooms are only accessible to special guests. There's an enormous library, archiving the records of the history of French armour. The museum was renamed after General Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne, the creator of the French tank arm.
See also
- Tank museums
- Deutsches Panzermuseum - Germany
- Kubinka Tank Museum - Russia
- Bovington Tank Museum - United Kingdom
- Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor - United States
- Yad La-Shiryon - Israel
External links
Categories:- French museum stubs
- Buildings and structures in Maine-et-Loire
- World War I museums in France
- World War II museums in France
- Tank museums
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