The Musée de Die et du Diois is an archaeological museum dedicated to the story of

Die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

, 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 Antinoöpolis (also Antinoopolis, Antinoë, Antinopolis; ; ''Antinow''; , modern , modern ''Sheikh 'Ibada'' or ''Sheik Abāda'') was a city founded at an older Egyptian village by the Roman emperor Hadrian to commemorate his deified young belov ...

, in Egypt. These collections had been exhibited in Paris, at the

Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 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

. 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 (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent ...

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 ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, 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 ...

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''; Ancient Greek, Greek: Οὐοκόντιοι, Οὐοκοντίων) were a Gauls, Gallic people dwelling on the western foothills of the Alps during the La Tène culture, Iron Age and the Roman period. The Vo ...

) ) 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 ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

. With this menhir,

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins 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, 44.7550103, N, 5.369820, E, display=title 1905 establishments in France Archaeological museums in France Museums established in 1905 Die, Drôme