Maison de l'Outil

Thousands of tools from the 18th century or earlier, all handmade and arranged in ways that bring these ancient professions to life. Exceptional displays of an amazing patrimony. A must see!

Thousands of traditional craftsmens' tools, organized by craft, housed in a beautiful old building around a centre courtyard. It is very fun to guess what each of the tools is for. Bonus: the best public restrooms I have ever seen on France (with toilet seats and everything!)

Ignore the comments about no English explanations. It really does not matter, you can use your own imagination. Incredible and super interesting. The displays are beautifully done. A gem. At 7 EUR it's well worth a visit.

A must visit, one of it's kind! If you are interested in history or a DIY enthusiast...this place will not let you diwn. They also have an excellent library with thousands of books on the subject. The building unique with a nice garden entrance.

Odd museum. Surprised it is rated the "top" destination in Troyes. It really is a museum of hand tools. Fair play to the curators. They have acquired a LOT of them. The exhibits don't have dates but probably they are from 1600-1900. The era when tools would be custom made rather than manufactured on a production line. The museum is very static. 95% of it is large display cases full of, well, tools, categorised by trade or by type. Often they are displayed by hanging in mid-air formations. A treatment my daughter described as "creepy". The cases full of axes and hammers would be a good opening scene for a horror movie. I'm just not sure what the appeal is. I already knew that craftsmen use a lot of specialised tools to do a job, and I recognised most of them. Aside from the sheer quantity and odd displays, nothing really stood out.

What an amazing place. A lovely building and the tools are all extremely well presented. It’s fascinating to see so many examples of human ingenuity and fun to try and work out what the tools were used for. Most explanations are in French so bring your Google Translate app!

An excellent set of displays of craftsmen's tools, with little change over the centuries. One of our highlights.

Must to see, particularly with children. It provides a good overview on old tools and way of working.