’EDMOND…’
Exhibition at the Villèle Museum
as from 19th December 2022

Designed by the Reunion Departmental Archives and the Villèle historical museum, the exhibition presents one of Reunion’s most illustrious historical figures: Edmond Albius, contributing hitherto unknown elements of his life.

Edmond was a slave belonging to Pierre Ferréol Edme Bellier de Beaumont, who initiated him into horticulture and botany. In 1841, at the age of 12, Edmond discovered the process of artificially pollinating the vanilla flower, thus contributing to the development of an economic activity that was to be behind the renown of the island, in the same way as coffee.

We have very few documents about his life. Most of our information about him comes from the correspondence of Mézières-Lepervanche and Féréol Bellier, as well as documents from the archives.

The exhibition can be visited in the gardens of the Villèle museum as from 19th December 2022 and accessed online, in its English, Portuguese and Reunion Creole translations.

Visit the exhibition