The Green Guide celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and it was first red. Published in 1926, the first Michelin travel guide, dedicated to Brittany, offered around twenty itineraries in the region. With the democratization of the automobile, Michelin hoped that car owners would stop driving around the block just to make their neighbors jealous, but would finally use their vehicles to travel far and wide. And so, they wear out their tires.
When road signs did not yet exist, the reader found in these works a wealth of essential information: directions to take, details on the condition of the roads, the existence of particularly steep hills or hairpin bends. Nothing was forgotten, including the addresses of garages, hotels and restaurants. Plans were provided in abundance, even those of small towns, as were illustrations of the heritage of the main tourist locations.
For the 100th anniversary of this collection, Michelin opened its archives to the press, which are usually closed to the public, on Wednesday February 11. They adjoin the L’Aventure Michelin museum in Clermont-Ferrand, which houses a Breguet 14 biplane, cars and a Michelin locomotive. The collection brings together millions of objects linked to Michelin: 200,000 photos, incredible stocks of posters, extremely rare statuettes of the Bibendum mascot… The maps and guides room houses the entire collection of tourist guides, i.e. more than a thousand references.
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