Comprising one million objects and documents, the Mucem's collections are preserved and made accessible at the Centre for Conservation and Resources (CCR)*, designed by the architectural firm Corinne Vezzoni and associates. The CCR opened its doors in 2013 in Marseille's Belle de Mai district, during European Heritage Days.   

In September 2023, the CCR celebrates its 10th anniversary: 10 years during which the collections have been reviewed, enriched, viewed and documented in an environment conducive to exchange and suitable for conservation. The CCR was conceived to serve the collections and the Mucem's entire scientific team, as well as the general public. It welcomes researchers, artists, heritage professionals, students, the curious and schoolchildren in its consultation, reading, exhibition and storage rooms. In fact, interaction with all these audiences plays a major part in enriching our knowledge of the collections.

Celebrating the CCR's 10 years, the exhibition "The secret life of the collections at la Belle de Mai" presents 110 objects, photographs, archives and books from the Mucem. It tells the story of the life of the CCR and the objects in its collections through the eyes of those who have created, studied, preserved and promoted it: donors, curators, restorers, etc. The whole of the Mucem's scientific team came together for this project, to share their love of the objects and tell us their human backstories.

These tell the stories of people's lives and social events, providing an opportunity to reflect on our contemporary practices, and what yesteryear's society would have made of our own. They bear witness to humankind's relationship with its environment, and speak of rootedness and construction, making them therefore a resource for humanity worthy of preservation and made known. This is what the museum's staff is dedicated to.

* One of the 17 storerooms, known as the "show flat", can be visited by the public by appointment. Covering an area of 950 m², it houses some 25,000 objects and documents.

Curation:

The Mucem's scientific and collections teams, coordinated by Marie-Charlotte Calafat, Head of the Collections Department,assisted by Julie Durin, Pernette Léger and Charles Riondet

Production manager: Léonore Branche

Scenography and graphic design : Marion Gournay, Noémie Saïdi