The Museum of Aquitaine ( French: ''Musée d'Aquitaine'') is a collection of objects and documents from the history of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

and

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

History

In the 16th century, the site of the Musée d'Aquitaine housed the convent of the Feuillants. Destroyed during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, it became a high school which burned down in 1871, then a university. In 1960, the

Lapidary Lapidary (from the Latin ) is the practice of shaping stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items such as cabochons, engraved gems (including cameos), and faceted designs. A person who practices lapidary is known as a lapidarist. A lap ...

Museum (created in 1783 by the Academy of Bordeaux) changed its primary vocation and brought together the collections of other museums (Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Museum of Arms and Ancient Objects). It took the name of Museum of Aquitaine in 1963. Initially, the museum shared the premises of the

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux is the fine arts museum of the city of Bordeaux, France. The museum is housed in a dependency of the Palais Rohan in central Bordeaux. Its collections include paintings, sculptures and drawings from the 15t ...

, in a building designed by Charles Burguet. Then, on January 9, 1987, the museum moved into the premises of the former Faculty of Letters and Sciences, a building built in the 1880s by the municipal architect Charles Durand and located in place of the former convents of the Feuillants and the Visitation. At the start of the 21st century, the Musée d'Aquitaine had 111,919 visitors in 2003, 88,738 in 2004, 99,880 in 2005, 101,897 in 2006, and 93,661 in 2007.

Location

In the center of Bordeaux, close to

Tour Pey-Berland The Tour Pey-Berland (Pey Berland Tower), named for its patron Pey Berland, is the separate bell tower of the Bordeaux Cathedral, in Bordeaux at the Place Pey Berland. History Its construction was from 1440 to 1500 at the initiative of the ar ...

and St. Andrew's Cathedral, the museum is accessible by line B of the

tramway de Bordeaux The Bordeaux tramway network (french: Tramway de Bordeaux) consists of four lines serving the city of Bordeaux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The system has a route length of , serving a total of 133 tram stops. The first line of ...

from station

Musée d'Aquitaine The Museum of Aquitaine (French language, French: ''Musée d'Aquitaine'') is a collection of objects and documents from the history of Bordeaux and Aquitaine. History In the 16th century, the site of the Musée d'Aquitaine housed the convent o ...

Collections

The different collections include more than 70,000 pieces. They trace the history of Bordeaux and Aquitaine from Prehistory to today. 5,000 pieces of art from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

also testify to the harbor history of the city. The museum has permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. The permanent collections are on two floors. On the ground floor are pieces on Prehistory, Protohistory,

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and the Modern Era. At level 1, there are eighteenth century pieces (Atlantic trade and slavery), world cultures, nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Bordeaux port-e-du monde, 1800–1939). In 2009, the Aquitaine Museum opened new permanent rooms dedicated to the role of Bordeaux in the slave trade. Rooms devoted to the nineteenth were reopened in February 2014.

Notable pieces

* The

Venus of Laussel The Venus of Laussel is an limestone bas-relief of a nude woman. It is painted with red ochre and was carved into the limestone of a rock shelter (''Abri de Laussel'') in the commune of Marquay, in the Dordogne department of south-western F ...

* The Gallic Gold

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

* The

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

of Michel de Montaigne * Bernini, ''

Bust of Cardinal Escoubleau de Sourdis The ''Bust of Cardinal Escoubleau de Sourdis'' is a marble portrait sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Executed in 1622, the work depicts François de Sourdis. It is currently in the Musée d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux, France. ...

'' * Bronze Statue of Hercules File:Venus-de-Laussel-vue-generale-noir.jpg,

File:Trésor de Tayac - Torque - Musée d'Aquitaine - 60.17.2.jpg, Gallic Gold

File:Musée d'Aquitaine - intérieur - monument funéraire de Michel de Montaigne (Bordeaux).jpg,

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

of Michel de Montaigne File:Statue d'Hercule - Musée d'Aquitaine - 60.17.1.jpg, Statue of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

File:Statue-fétiche Fon-Musée d'Aquitaine (1).jpg, Fon fetish, Musée d'Aquitaine. File:Vitrail aux armes de Bordeaux.jpg, Stained-glass window with the arms of Bordeaux

References

Museums in Bordeaux Local museums in France Archaeological museums in France {{Gironde-geo-stub