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Born in 1930, it
was at the age of 14 that Maurice Dufresne began his training as a blacksmith
and joined the "Compagnons du Devoir" (organization of journeymen
-craftsmen) to begin a tour of France working for 20 different employers.
In 1958, he created his own company in Villeperdue in the region Indre-et-Loire. He started out in the salvage business and began saving things which he thought worthy of placing later in his museum thereby avoiding the destruction of part of the French heritage. |
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Thirty years later, on the 24th of October 1992 in Marnay near Azay-le-Rideau, on the banks of the Indre river in an old mill owned by Geoffroy
de l'Ile in 1026 which later became a paper factory in the time
of Balzac, the prefect, the notables of the region and the press inaugurated
the Museum Maurice Dufresne.
The scrap dealer from Villeperdue, armed only with his enthusiasm, was able to create this amazing museum of collections of machines from a road roller to a hearse, from a copper sulfate sprayer to a monoplane Louis-Blériot, and to present all of this in enjoyable surroundings. His museum today has more than 3,000 machines presented in warehouses covering 10,000 m2. It has already attracted 600,000 visitors and 23 guestbooks are filled with praises from around the world. In the last several years, Maurice Dufresne continually travels between Marnay and Villeperdue where 27 people run the medium-sized salvage business. |
Musée Maurice Dufresne - 17, route de Marnay - 37190 Azay-le-Rideau