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Origin and history

The archaeological museum of Saintes was founded in 1815 on the initiative of Baron Alexandre Chaudruc de Crazannes, who gathered a lapidary collection of 19th-century excavations and works. These remains, mainly from the demolition of ancient monuments to build the urban enclosure in the third century, were first preserved before being transferred in 1931 to the former building of the municipal slaughterhouses, redeveloped under the direction of archaeologist Charles Dangibeaud. The addition of claustras and an ancient colonnade in the inner courtyard gave instead an evocative atmosphere of antiquity.

The collections exhibited mainly come from excavations of the urban enclosure of Saintes, built between the third and fourth centuries during a period of instability marked by invasions. The stones of the demolished basilicas, temples and palaces were used again to build this wall, reinforced in the Middle Ages and partially preserved until the 18th century. Among the flagship pieces are fragments of columns, funerary steles, and an acephalic marble statue of Carrara, as well as a unique set of first-century Roman tank pieces, bearing witness to the richness of the ancient Mediolanum Santonum.

In 2008, the museum renewed its permanent exhibition on "Daily life in the time of the Gallo-Romans", composed of objects from the 20th century excavations. Since 2024, it also presents artifacts of the wreckage of Courbiac, an underwater archaeological discovery. Ranked Museum of France, it offers an immersion in the history of Saintes, the former capital of the Roman Aquitaine, thanks to graphic restitutions and an interactive terminal. Its location near the arch of Germanicus, the monumental gate of Via Agrippa, strengthens its historic anchor.

The current building, reorganized after 1945, saw its lapidary collection set aside in 2018. Today, the museum focuses on the period from the 1st to the 3rd century, illustrating the daily life of the Santons through various archaeological objects, from mother goddesses to mosaics, through symbols of prosperity such as a Augustine statuette representing a goddess holding a deer. The foundations of the ancient rampart, classified as a historical monument in 1977, remain visible near the Place des Recollets.

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