The Musée de Die et du Diois is an archaeological museum dedicated to the story of
Die, France, the ancient Roman city ''Augusta Dea Vocontiorum''.
History
The museum was created in 1905 by the mayor of the time, Joseph Reynaud, to receive archaeological collections from Albert Gayet's excavations on the Coptic necropolis of
Antinoöpolis, in Egypt. These collections had been exhibited in Paris, at the
Petit Palais
The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...
in Paris, and were distributed in regional museums, as well as in
Die.
Soon, Roman and medieval remains of the ancient city of Die (''Colonia Dea Augusta Vocontiorum'') came to complete the collections of the nascent museum. A monetary treasure dating from the
Wars of Religion
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
soon made its entry (discovered in 1883, he was presented at the communal school). In 1924, Joseph Reynaud decided to bequeath his mansion to the city, located in the center, to install the collection. This was done in 1941, and the new museum was inaugurated in 1949, taking advantage of the sixth centenary of the annexation of the
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th centu ...
to the French crown (1349). A curator was named: Maurice Arnaud.
In 1967, the city made a major acquisition for its museum: an archeological collection patiently collected locally between 1820 and 1930 by Dr. Jean-Denis Long and his successors came to double the volume of objects presented to the museum, which grew under the management of its curator, Henri Desaye, known for his epigraphic skills. He traveled the region to study (and if possible, to collect for the museum) the archaeological remains of the past of the city of Die, Luc-en-Diois (the other Roman capital of
Vocontii
The Vocontii (Gaulish: *''Uocontioi''; Greek: Οὐοκόντιοι, Οὐοκοντίων) were a Gallic people dwelling on the western foothills of the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Vocontii settled in the region in the 3r ...
) ) and of this entire Alpine territory of the Drôme.
[Henri Desaye, André Blanc, "Inscriptions nouvelles de la Drôme et de l'Ardèche", ''Gallia'', Tome 27 fascicule 2, 1969, pp. 206–224, passage pp. 206–218]
/ref>
File:Musée archéologique de Die - salle 5.jpg
File:Musée archéologique de Die - salle 1.jpg
File:Musée archéologique de Die - cabinet numismatique.jpg
File:Musée archéologique de Die - salle Préhistoire.jpg
In 1992, a fortuitous discovery further increased the museum's presentations: a Menhir, Neolithic menhir, exceptional because of its size (4 meters long) and because of the engravings it carries, putting it directly in touch with the great menhirs of Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
or Île-de-France
The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...
. With this menhir, prehistory
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
made in 1996 a remarkable entrance to the museum.
The museum is planned to be moved to the old episcopal palace of the city (where the mosaic of the four rivers can be seen), which would considerably enlarge its area and add many objects to the current collections.
References
External links
www.museededie.org
{{coord missing, France
1905 establishments in France
Archaeological museums in France
Museums established in 1905
Die, Drôme