Ville de Périgueux- Musée d´art et d´archéologie du Périgord

Google Maps:
45.186083, 0.723737

Type of site:
MUSEUM

Place of location: Centre- ville
Village/Town: Périgueux
Municipality: (Dordogne)
Region: Nouvelle Aquitaine
State: France
Telephone: 05-53-06-40-70
Website: https://www.perigueux-maap.fr/
E-mail: maap@perigueux.fr

Natural Environment:

The Musée d´art et d´archéologie du Périgord is located in the heart of Périgueux, the capital of Périgord. The town is set in a vast meander of the Isle river, a tributary of the Dordogne river that rises in the Massif Central. The town is sorroundede by the wooded hills and covers about 10km2. From a geological point of view, Périgueux is located in the Aquitaine basin, in the heart of the Périgord Blanc where the rock is limestone. The climate of the region is oceanic. The city is served by the A 89 motorway which links Bordeaux to Lyon. its foundation dates back to the Gallo- Roman period, arround 16 B.C. but the site was occupied much older, as shown by some of the remains on display in the museum. Among them, the very beautiful 450,000 years old double- sided from La Croix du Duc site, found not far from the museum, or the fossil skeleton of the Raymonden site, dated around 14,000 years B.C. and discovered at the entrance of the town.

Archaeological evidences in the site:

The Musée d´art et d´archéologie du Périgord has 33,500 references listed in its inventories. The 2000 m2 permanent exhibition presents the history of the arts from prehistory to contemporary art through Africa and Oceania. Its collections of extra- European ethnography constitute the seventh collection in France. The prehistory collections are presented in two adjoining rooms. The first is dedicated to the Lower and Middle Paleolithic while the second has remains dates to the Upper Paleolithic. In the first room, we notice in particular: the 90,000- year-old- skeleton of the Régourdou man, a reference Neanderthal fossil, recognized to date as the oldest and most complate. In the second room, all the cultures of the Upper Paleolithic period are represented: from the Aurignacian to the Magdelenian. The objects presented come from the largest sites in the Dordogne. Among them the Cro Magnon shelter in Les Eyzies, the sites of Laugerie basse the Raymonden rock shelter with the skeleton of the Man of Chancelade, the site of Combe Capelle, the Abri du Souci, the Blanchard rock shelter in Sergac and many others.

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Opening Times:

Days open to the public: Every day except on Thuesday an French public holidays.

From 1 October to 31 March. 10am- 5pm/ Saturday and Sunday from 1 pm to 6pm

From 1st April to 30th Spetember: 10:30 am to 5.30 pm/ Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 6pm.

Booking and access:

Ticket prices: Full price 6 euros/ Reduced price 4 euros/ Free for children ageed under 18s.

How to make reservations: calling by phone or e -mail for groups and guides tours

Nearby cultural destinations:

Périgueux is 120 km from Bordeaux, 46kms from Les Eyzies de Tayac, the world capital of prehistory, 60 km from Montignac Lascaux and 66 kms from Sarlat, capital of the Black Perigord.

Nearby natural destinations:

200 km from de Bassion d´Arcachon (sea side) and 220 km from the Massif Central (mountain).

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://all.accor.com/hotel/6237/index.es.shtml
Restaurants (Tourism Website):

Age of the artistic representations:

5 blocks with engravings and paintings from the Abri Blanchard located in the Castelmerle valley, in the commune of Sergeac, in the Vézère valley in the Dordogne. These rock representation are attributed to the Aurignacian culture (35,000 years)

History of the site:

Périgueux is situated about 30km north of the Vézère valley, whith more than 200 prehistoric sites, where generations of men have succeeded one another for 100,000 years. The Museum of Art and Archeology of the Perigord is the first muesum created in the Dordogne. Itsprehistory section is recpgnized as the 4th largest collection in France and includes collections from 450,000 years to 10,000 years B.C. Amongst the remarkable pieces, we can notabily see the only rock painting dated from the Aurignacian culture found in the Dordogne. The Museum of Art and Archeology of the Perigord is undoubtedly the getaway to the history of prehistory in the Dordogne.

Museographic resources description:

The Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Périgord is a great 19th century institution, the very first museum created in the Dordogne in 1835. It is a vast building of 4,000m2, originally designed as a museum-library. The plan is reminiscent of those of the great Parisian museums. A monumental entrance with three arches opens onto a garden sorrounded by a gallery. On either side of the entrance, two perpendicular pavilions on the ground floor house large exhibition halls with zenithal lighting, and one storey in the east wing. The tour starts in the inventors’ room as a nod to the curiosity cabinets. Then the collections of African an Oceaninan ethnography are presented, and on the first floor, the prehistory section. In the cloister, in the centre of the building people can see the lapidary collections of ancient, medival and moderns times. In the west wing, the Fine Arts section dates back to the 15th to the 21st century. The last two rooms were devoted to contemporary art with sculptures by Etienne Hajdu and Gilbert Privat.