Marie Gicquel // Photo credit: GARDEL Bertrand / hemis.fr / hemis.fr / Hemis via AFP 11:39 a.m., March 29, 2024
Taking a cultural visit with a baby is often an obstacle course for young parents. But more and more museums have decided to adapt to this audience and now offer tours designed for strollers and babies, such as at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.
What if you took your baby... to the museum? More and more cultural institutions are offering a route reserved for strollers and parents, such as the Maritime Museum in Paris. On the program: a visit of less than an hour and space to allow strollers to pass through.
In the corridors of the museum, between a model boat and a giant lighthouse lens, several strollers form an arc. In the center, babies, eyes wide. Dawoud is only 7 months old, his mother Fatine holds him in her arms, sitting on the floor: "In museums, they tell us 'No, you have to leave the stroller'. Visits from adults, we will say, are often a little long too.
And so there, the time slot is ideal for baby to be able to squeeze in a little visit between his two little naps,” she emphasizes.
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“It was very fun”
Babies discover the treasures of the museum thanks to a storyteller, who takes musical instruments, ship ropes and other toys out of her bag. “We have a little fish that guides the children’s gaze towards the works,” Lucie Ertz, who works at the national maritime museum, laughs at the microphone of Europe 1. “All audiences have their place at the museum from a very young age,” she assures.
The tour ends under the bow of a ship. Little Martin was amazed, as was his grandmother Christine: “It was very fun, it was a change from the screens,” she notes. “They explained the lighthouse to us, how it worked, we saw the waves,” continues his grandson. And the boy promises to come back when he's older.