La Cité du Volcan

Useful Information

Location:	RN3 Bourg Murat 97418, Plaine des Cafres. (-21.202922, 55.574485)
Open:	All year Mon 13-17, Tue-Sun 9:30-17. Closed 01-JAN, 01-MAY, 01-NOV, 25-DEC. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 9, Children (5-16) EUR 6, Children (0-3) free. [2023]
Classification:	Cave Replica
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	La Cité du Volcan, RN3 Bourg Murat 97418, Plaine des Cafres, Tel: +262-59-00-26. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2010-2014	renovated by the Réunion Region.
05-AUG-2014	museum opened to the public.

Description

La Cité du Volcan (The City of the Volcano) is a museum about the volcanism of La Réunion. While it is definitely an interesting museum, we are generally not listing museums, but this museum has an artificial cave, a replica lava tube. It also has 6,000 m² of exhibition space explaining volcanism and especially the geological history of Reunion. There are numerous innovative and interactive devices such as holographic projection, augmented reality, large format "multitouch" surfaces, a 4D cinema, and sound and visual projections.

The museum has a temporary exposition from 2022 to 2024 about the volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft. The couple from the Alsace were the most famous volcanologists for decades. They travelled to any eruption of the world, actually all volcanologists travelled to those eruptions, and when they arrived, the Kraffts were already there. A little like the fable of the Hare and the Hedgehog. They made spectacular documentaries about volcanoes beneath their scientific work. And they thought about retiring, on Hawai'i, obviously because of the volcanoes. But one day the volcano they observed erupted and they were dead, a fate which many volcanologists share.