One of the missions of the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditérranée, open since June 2013 and one of the major creations of « Marseille European Capital of Culture » was to present various aspects of a wide-spectrum heritage, that of Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
For this purpose, the Galerie de la Méditérranée shows its visitors what is specific and unique to the Mediterranean region, and what makes it different to other parts of the world, in particular through a focus on the cultivation of the olive tree and of the vine. For the latter, three aspects/stages are presented through three geographical places:
- Georgia, where the first traces of the domestication of the vine and of winemaking in jars can be found,
- Crete, through a kasani, a traditional still used to make raki,
- And Châteauneuf-du-Pape which, through a selection of traditional tools, summarizes the various stages of viticulture from the growing of the vine through to the winemaking process.
