Description
The 18th-century building, located in the upper town, has undergone numerous alterations, mainly in the 19th century when it became a gendarmerie. It was in 1924 that the first Comminges Museum dedicated to archaeology was built. The building, listed as a Historic Monument in 1946, has been restored by the Conseil Départemental de la Haute-Garonne. The first floor of the building houses the department’s archaeological services and a study library (it is not open to visitors, but by appointment only). The ground floor hosts free archaeological exhibitions.
To mark the centenary of its creation, the Musée archéologique départemental de Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is unveiling its exceptional collections in a new scenography for its permanent exhibition and museum area.
This space, completely redesigned for the first time since its creation in 1925 (under the name of “Musée du Comminges”), allows visitors to discover the museum’s remarkable ancient works, such as votive altars, the colossal head of Aggripine the Younger, or the Augustan trophy, a unique piece in the Roman world, as well as current archaeological data from the ancient “Lugdunum des Convènes”.
The new exhibition route offers a new chronological account of the history of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Presented in 3 rooms, the exhibition looks at the discoveries and origins of the settlement of Lugdunum in the Pyrenees, the history of the town and the daily lives of its inhabitants, as well as the discoveries on the outskirts of the town and the transition to the Middle Ages.
For the first time, eight new immersive digital displays will be associated with the works in 5 areas, including 3 silent films on the major stages of the excavations and the life of the museum, an interactive map showing the area from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages, a film on the restoration of the Augustan trophy, and animated projections of scenes from daily life and objects from the collection.
Today, the Departmental Archaeological Museum boasts a unique collection of over 155,000 objects from excavations carried out since 1920, illustrating and documenting more than eight centuries of the history of this ancient city capital, considered to be a showcase for Roman culture.
Owned by the Conseil départemental, this conservation and exhibition facility is linked to the site of Lugdunum, the main town of the ancient city of Convènes, and is a major cultural heritage facility in the Haute-Garonne, contributing to the attractiveness of the south of the département alongside the Abbaye de Bonnefont and the Musée de l’Aurignacien.
