Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Borda Museum came into being in 1807 when the municipality of Dax acquired the cabinet of curiosities of the naturalist and geologist Jacques-François de Borda d'Oro. Set up in the old Carmelite chapel (founded in 1523 and transformed into a prison under the Terror), this cabinet becomes a municipal museum enriched by donations of archaeological, historical and artistic objects. The Borda Society managed it from 1876, while local figures, such as Mayor Raphaël Milliès-Lacroix, contributed with African and Asian ethnographic pieces from his colonial travels between 1906 and 1909.

The collections expand over the centuries thanks to local archaeological excavations, especially Gallo-Romans (such as the treasure of the halls discovered in 1982, including a statue of Mercury of the first century) and prehistoric (tools of the Pope's cave in Brassempouy). The museum also preserves scientific instruments related to Jean-Charles de Borda, Jacques-François's cousin, as well as historical grasslands, including that of Jean Thore, bearing witness to the Dutch flora before the massive afforestation of the 19th century. The works of Gascon artists, such as Alexis Lizal or Léon Gischia, complement this eclectic ensemble.

The museum experienced several moves and floods, particularly during the Second World War. In 1982, the Landes Department took control of it, incorporating paintings by Dutch painters. Since 1996, the city of Dax has been managing it again. After a major renovation between 2021 and 2024 (cost: EUR 1 million), financed with the help of the Heritage Foundation, the museum reopens in September 2024. His temporary exhibitions, such as the tribute to Alexis Lizal in 2015-2016, highlight local heritage.

The ethnographic collections illustrate four themes: Landes rurality (agricultural tools, handicrafts), dacquois thermalism (archives of 19th-century establishments), taurine culture (corrida, Landes race) and African/Asian arts, with Geledé yoruba masks as master pieces. The museum thus combines regional heritage and international openings, while preserving unique archaeological and scientific backgrounds.

Ranked Museum of France, the institution plays a key role in valuing the history of the Landes, from prehistory to contemporary times. Its partnerships with the departmental archives (numerization of grasslands) and its recent acquisitions, such as the objects of the Roman forum of Aquae Tarbellicae, make it an essential place to understand the cultural and scientific evolution of the Aquitaine southwest.

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