Who We Are: Guardians of Agrarian Memory & Community Solidarity

Organizational History & Legal Foundations under the Law of July 1, 1901

The genesis of PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS represents a direct civic reaction to the swift transformation of the rural landscape of the Plaine de l'Ain during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As urbanization, industrial logistics platforms, and technological infrastructure expanded throughout our region, the physical artifacts and collective memories of several centuries of traditional farming life risked becoming entirely obliterated. Older farmsteads were being renovated into modern suburban residences, historic timber-framed outbuildings were being razed, and multi-generational agricultural tools—fashioned by local blacksmiths and wheelwrights who possessed irreplaceable knowledge of metallurgy and woodcraft—were frequently discarded into waste dumps.

In response to this alarming loss of local identity, a dedicated coalition of long-time residents, retired farm laborers, village schoolteachers, and heritage advocates convened in Saint-Vulbas to establish an enduring, formal legal framework for communal heritage preservation. On January 12, 2018, the constitutive assembly met at the Saint-Vulbas Town Hall to enact the internal statutes of the association in strict accordance with the French Law of July 1, 1901 and the regulatory decree of August 16, 1901.

Following statutory adoption by the founding assembly, the association’s constitutive declaration was officially registered at the Prefecture of Ain in Bourg-en-Bresse. The organization was formally inscribed into the National Directory of Associations (Répertoire National des Associations) under persistent identifier RNA W011002403, with subsequent publication in the Official Gazette of the French Republic (Journal Officiel des Associations et Fondations d'Entreprise - JOAFE). Furthermore, the association was assigned the national statistical establishment identifier SIREN 834692048 by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), confirming our capacity to receive public grants, sign civic agreements with public administrations, and hold administrative standing before local authorities.

From its inception, our founding members instituted a non-negotiable statutory rule: the association shall remain permanently independent, secular, apolitical, and completely non-commercial. Our sole reason for existence is the service of the general public interest through the preservation, restoration, exhibition, and educational interpretation of rural agricultural heritage from Saint-Vulbas, Marcillieux, and the broader Plaine de l'Ain.

The Hamlet of Marcillieux: Our Historical Sanctuary and Museum Seat

While the official legal domicile of PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS is hosted by courtesy of the municipality at the Town Hall (Mairie) of Saint-Vulbas, the operational and spiritual heartbeat of our daily activities resides in the historic hamlet of Marcillieux. Nestled within an ancient agricultural bend of the Rhône valley, Marcillieux possesses a documented human lineage extending back several centuries. For generations, Marcillieux served as a self-sustaining agricultural node where farming families cultivated cereals, tended livestock pastures, maintained communal wells, and operated water-powered grinding mills.

When the local community recognized that an authentic nineteenth-century stone barn and communal agricultural compound in Marcillieux faced obsolescence, our association worked in partnership with municipal authorities to transform the site into an authentic pedagogical sanctuary. Unlike modern sterile museum galleries with glass display vitrines, the Marcillieux Rural Museum preserves artifacts in their natural architectural context: exposed limestone rubble walls, hand-hewn oak ceiling beams, and gravel courtyards.

Visitors entering the Marcillieux complex step directly into an immersive nineteenth-century rural world. The site encompasses a master blacksmith’s forge with a functioning leather bellows, a woodwright’s bench with vintage drawknives and adzes, an authentic hearth with open chimney cooking spits, and an expansive agricultural hangar housing heavy horse-drawn machinery, stationary threshers, and historic tractors. By situating our collection in Marcillieux, we ensure that artifacts remain anchored in the exact geographic and architectural ecosystem in which they were originally operated by the ancestors of today’s residents.

Democratic Governance Structure & Executive Leadership

In accordance with the democratic tenets of the French Law of July 1, 1901, sovereign authority over PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS is vested exclusively in the General Assembly of active members. The General Assembly convenes annually in ordinary session to review moral and financial reports, debate future operational priorities, and democratically elect members of the Board of Directors (Conseil d'Administration). The Board of Directors subsequently appoints an Executive Bureau (Bureau) responsible for day-to-day administrative, technical, and educational management.

Every elected officer serves on a strictly uncompensated, volunteer basis. In accordance with French tax regulations governing non-profit associations, our officers receive neither direct salaries, indirect remuneration, personal benefits in kind, nor attendance fees. Their dedication is driven entirely by civic passion for public education and historical conservation.

Beyond the executive bureau, the Board of Directors comprises seven additional volunteer administrators representing diverse technical and civic domains: agricultural machinery operators, master carpenters, local business owners, youth representatives, and neighborhood delegates from the hamlets of Marcillieux and Saint-Vulbas.

Territorial Integration & Public Administration Alliances

PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS operates not in isolation, but as an indispensable thread in the civic and cultural tapestry of Saint-Vulbas and the Communauté de Communes de la Plaine de l'Ain (CCPA). We work in continuous structural cooperation with public authorities and civil society organizations:

1. Partnership with the Municipality of Saint-Vulbas

The Municipal Council of Saint-Vulbas recognizes our association as a core public utility partner. Through formal multi-year municipal conventions, the Town Hall provides us with administrative mailing facilities at 403 Rue Claires Fontaines, grants logistical support during large-scale public heritage gatherings, and contributes an annual municipal operating subsidy that underwrites utility costs, building insurance, and safety equipment for our volunteer workshops. In return, our association maintains the historical memory of the commune, preserves its rural architectural patrimony, and delivers free educational exhibitions for all residents.

2. Regional Cooperation with Intercommunal Cultural Networks

At the intercommunal level, we participate actively in cultural networks coordinated by the Communauté de Communes de la Plaine de l'Ain. Our museum schedules are harmonized with regional tourism and cultural trails, facilitating visits from cycling enthusiasts along the ViaRhôna trail, regional hiking clubs, and cultural tourists seeking authentic historical experiences off the commercialized beaten path.

3. Departmental Historical Societies & Archives of Ain

Our historical research team collaborates closely with the Archives Départementales de l'Ain based in Bourg-en-Bresse, as well as the Société d'Émulation de l'Ain and neighboring heritage associations in Pérouges, Meximieux, and Lagnieu. When our volunteers recover rare nineteenth-century land surveys, parish registries, or agricultural syndicate minutes, our team digitizes the documents and deposits preservation copies into public departmental archives to ensure perpetual scholarly availability.

Benevolent Ethics, Social Inclusion, and Anti-Isolation Mandate

Beyond its historical and mechanical dimensions, PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS serves a profound social welfare mission in our community. In rapidly suburbanizing rural regions, elder citizens who spent their entire working lives in farming frequently experience acute social isolation as traditional family farming structures decline. At the same time, younger families who relocate to the area for employment opportunities in regional industrial zones often feel disconnected from local history and community roots.

Our association deliberately functions as an intergenerational bridge that brings these two demographic groups into meaningful, collaborative fellowship:

• Valuing Senior Wisdom: Retired farmers and craftsmen find a renewed sense of purpose and social validation inside our workshops. Rather than sitting isolated at home, they become recognized civic masters who teach younger volunteers how to temper steel, braze brass bearings, sharpen scythes, and splice hemp ropes.
• Civic Welcome for New Residents: Newly arrived families and children are welcomed into our association as active participants. Working alongside longtime village elders during cider pressing days or museum open houses creates immediate, organic neighborhood friendships that transcend age, political views, and social backgrounds.
• Accessible Inclusivity: Our facilities are designed to be accessible to all individuals, including persons with reduced mobility. We charge zero entrance fees for museum explorations, ensuring that financial barriers never prevent any child or family from accessing their shared regional heritage.

Internal Regulations & Ethical Code of Benevolent Practice

To ensure smooth and harmonious operational functioning across all projects, the Board of Directors promulgated the association's official Règlement Intérieur (Internal Rules of Procedure), which operates in strict synergy with our statutory articles. This code governs the daily activities of volunteers and establishes unequivocal standards of safety, accountability, and mutual respect:

1. Workshop Safety & Collective Equipment Protocol: Operating vintage mechanical machinery, belt drives, iron forges, and heavy timber handling implements carries inherent occupational hazards. Our regulations mandate that all restoration activities within the Marcillieux workshop be supervised by designated technical leads holding certified mechanical or industrial safety experience. Personal protective equipment (safety footwear, eye shields, leather welding gloves, ear defenders) is systematically provided by the association, financed directly through municipal safety equipment grants.

2. Civil Liability & Associative Insurance Guarantees: In accordance with Article L. 227-5 of the French Code of Sports and Community Associations, PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS holds comprehensive institutional civil liability coverage through a registered mutual insurer (Assurance Mutuelle des Associations). This policy protects every active member, volunteer worker, visitor, pupil, and participating school during all museum visits, outdoor heritage festivals, and mechanical workshops conducted anywhere in Saint-Vulbas or neighboring municipalities.

3. Strict Patrimonial Inalienability: All agricultural machines, historical manuscripts, hand tools, and archival negatives donated to the association are formally classified as inalienable civic patrimony. They cannot be sold, bartered, ceded to commercial dealers, or claimed by individual board members. Should the association ever undergo dissolution, our statutory articles dictate that the entire collection must be transferred unconditionally to the municipal heritage repository of Saint-Vulbas or the departmental archives of Ain for perpetual conservation in the public interest.

4. Universal Free Access & Pedagogical Hospitality: Our association explicitly rejects exclusionary practices. Whether welcoming primary school classes from disadvantaged neighborhoods, university researchers preparing master's theses in rural sociology, or curious families exploring the Plaine de l'Ain on weekends, our volunteer docents provide warm, attentive, and completely free pedagogical hospitality to every member of the public without exception.

Looking Toward 2026 and Beyond: Our Institutional Promise

As we operate throughout 2026, PATRIMOINE, CULTURE ET TRADITIONS reaffirms its unwavering dedication to public service integrity. We pledge to maintain complete transparency in our accounts, uphold absolute non-commercial fidelity, treat all public and private archives with scientific respect, and ensure that every volunteer hour donated by our members serves exclusively the common good of Saint-Vulbas and future generations of citizens.