Whiteout Day, Chill, Culture

1,800 treasures from five continents — and just as many stories to make you sparkle at apéritif time.

• Mountaineering in the ChamonixMontBlanc Valley and the search for precious minerals are inextricably linked.

• Many gemstones are crystals, but not all crystals are gemstones.

• The largest gold nugget ever discovered weighed 72 kg, and the Crystal Museum owns one of only three replicas in the world.

• The smoky hue of quartz from the MontBlanc massif comes from the natural radioactivity within the rock.

• Opal is an amorphous mineral — which doesn’t mean it’s soft, simply that its atoms have no fixed order.

Bonus! On Thursdays during school holidays, 2:15 – 4:15 p.m., by reservation: guided visits led by a crystal-hunter from the Chamonix Mineralogy Club — with scientific insight, field anecdotes, discovery stories, and a rare glimpse into the art of finding crystals.

Tues-Sun / 2-6 pm

Think your studio apartment for two feels small? Wait until you step inside the traditional three-room family home reconstructed at the Montagnard Museum.

• A single entrance served both people — and their animals.

• Only one window faced the valley, designed to lose as little heat as possible — energy efficiency before its time.

• Parents’ bed drawers held belongings — and sometimes their sleeping children.

• Because a lame cow was a mountain of trouble, each one had its own “hoof kit.”

• A wooden bucket with a metal handle was just as handy for carrying milk as for the once-a-month wash.

Bonus! Temporary exhibition until 16 May 2026: “Cable Car and Company” — photos, documents and never-before-seen stories from the 90 year history of the Bellevue cable car in Les Houches.

School holidays only: Tuesday-Sunday / 2-6 pm

History as if you were there — in 1924.
The exhibition “Chamonix 1924 – The Invention of the Winter Olympics” retraces the electrifying week when the valley became the centre of the world.

• The very first Winter Olympic Games didn’t yet bear the name — they were officially called the International Winter Sports Week.

• In 1924, Chamonix built a 36,000 m² ice rink, a bobsleigh run in the Pèlerins Forest, and a ski jump at Les Bossons — all in just a few months!

• Local photographer Auguste Couttet captured the event in stunning images, now preserved in the GayCouttet collection (12,000 mountain photographs spanning a century).

• Fun fact: The first Winter Olympic gold medal was won by an American — in speed skating!

The centenary celebrations continue until 15 March 2026, giving visitors a chance to relive that legendary 1924 week through images, films, eyewitness accounts and athlete anecdotes.

Thursday-Sunday / 2–6 p.m. (hours vary depending on the season)