History of the Museum

A museum on the theme of the Second World War and the Normandy Landings

The NORMANDY VICTORY MUSEUM is one of the must-see museums in Normandy on the theme of the Second World War and the Normandy landings. If it is worth a diversion, it is because it deals in detail with the Battle of the Hedgerows, which took place throughout the summer of 1944 in the Normandy bocage. An event that deserved to have an entire museum dedicated to it because it was so important, so strategic, and left such a lasting impression on the memory of the locals and the soldiers involved in the battle. This is where the history of the museum begins.

Three men driven by the same passion: the history of the Second World War

The Normandy Victory Museum was created in 2016 by three history enthusiasts: Patrick Fissot, history teacher and author of several books, including “D-Day, 70 jours pour libérer la Manche” (D-Day, 70 jours pour libérer la Manche). Christophe Beaussire, entrepreneur and Nicolas Bellée, chartered accountant. Three collectors animated by the same desire, to make known the Battle of the hedges, major event of the Second World War which marked so much their department and to pay homage to those who fought courageously to deliver the Manche dpt from the German yoke, military as well as civil.

A personal historical heritage at the service of the public

Patrick Fissot and Nicolas Bellée are already great collectors when they join forces for this great museum project. Their respective personal collections are impressive and between 2004 and 2014, they put together a few large temporary exhibitions that earned them recognition from the community and the public. Building on these successes, they began to mature a museum project in 2015.

In 2016, they were joined by Christophe Beaussire, entrepreneur, and also a passionate collector of military vehicles. He owns a building in the town of Catz (Carentan-les-marais) which will be the ideal place to install the collections of the three men and make them available to a large public.

A museum that has won over its public

The work and the passion of a whole team paid off and the figures show a public conquered by the theme of the museum and the way of presenting this important period of the local history during the Second World War.

• 2017: 10,000 visitors
• 2018: nearly 20,000 visitors
• 2019: nearly 30,000 visitors, including a growing number of schoolchildren.
• 2020/2021: despite the crisis, the number of visitors has been maintained thanks to French and some European tourists and we thank them.
• 2022: return to pre-Covid attendance levels.
• 2023: we’re close to 40,000 visitors

Encouraged by these statistics and the very positive feedback from our visitors, the museum team continues to improve its museum tour and to imagine new activities for our public.

Mars 2020, a brutal stop and a battle to be fought

This beginning of 2020, will have shown us how fragile man is and how great he can be in adversity. The Covid crisis was an ordeal such as our generation and that of our children have never known. It allowed us to touch a small part of what our elders experienced during the Second World War and forbade us to give up.

That year, the museum was not able to reopen as planned at the end of March, but we continued to work: improvement of the museum’s scenes, development of the exteriors, enrichment of our collections, postponement of conferences, organization of virtual ceremonies such as “Les clochers de la Liberté” (The bells of Freedom) or “The June 6 Drive”.

We also redesigned the website and set up an online reservation system that allowed us to welcome the public as soon as we were authorized. Unfortunately the health situation forced us to close again and to reduce our team but we continued to prepare the reopening: redesign this time of our E-commerce website (to find online all the products sold in the store), layout and decoration of the museum entrance, finishing touches in the Greenfield Room for cultural events and professional and private meetings.

2021, we were looking forward to the return of our visitors and they came back

On our side, projects continued to bloom. The store has been redesigned. The Greenfield Room was completed and since then, it has been used for a variety of business and private events.

In 2022: the museum celebrated its fifth anniversary.

The museum has evolved a lot since 2017 and the constantly increasing number of visitors and their enthusiastic reviews show us that we have been able to meet your expectations and confirm to us that it is necessary to always improve and surprise our visitors. That is why in 2022 we have installed two new scenographies.

An authentic landing barge and a testimonial film

It’s a big and audacious job to bring an authentic landing barge into our little museum! But it has entered and is now integrated into the tour. Walkers are invited to go inside and then to sit down to watch a few minutes of film made especially for the museum. In an original format, mixing archive images and animations, we discover the testimony of Bill Parker, one of the first soldiers to have landed at Omaha Beach. A realization that makes the film accessible to all spectators.

A P-47 Thunderbolt, in the museum

It was part of the recognizable elements of the museum. the P-47 which was parked outside, also entered the museum. It was actually a life-size model, made by an artist, Patrik Letouzé, and we were worried about its conservation. That’s why we installed it indoors, protected from the elements. From now on, the P-47 is highlighted in a crash scene in the middle of the Normandy countryside. This painting was created by several members of the museum’s team who were able to stage it with subtlety and respect for historical details.