Musée du Béret in Nay

In the bastide town of Nay, between Pau and Lourdes in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the Musée du Béret follows the making of a familiar French headpiece. Its displays move from hand knitting and fulling to mechanised production, all within a building connected to Nay’s textile past.

Nay’s textile setting

Textile trades developed early in Nay by using hydraulic power from the Gave. By the seventeenth century, a local hosiery industry had emerged. The museum’s account explains that a family of bonnet-makers then began producing berets on an industrial scale.

Beret production moved into a former convent that had previously been converted into a cloth factory. The museum was later created on the same site, in a Directoire-style building. This setting links the collection to the workshops and industrial activity that shaped the town’s relationship with the beret.

From handwork to machinery

The displays trace the principal changes in manufacture. Earlier berets were knitted by hand and then fulled; later sections explain the arrival of machinery and the production of berets in many colours. Working looms help demonstrate the process, while industrial machines dating from the early twentieth century show the equipment used during a later phase of production.

A film adds testimony from several witnesses to the beret’s history. Alongside the looms and older machinery, it gives the collection a human record as well as a technical one. The directory entry also notes a shop where visitors can see a broad selection of berets after touring the displays.

Planning a visit

The museum is at 36 Rue Léon Gambetta, 64800 Nay. Opening periods, admission prices and shop arrangements may change, so check the museum’s current practical information before making a special journey.