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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Musées
  3. Occitanie
  4. Hautes-Pyrénées
  5. 65700 Maubourguet

  6. Archaeological Museum of Maubourguet

Archaeological Museum of Maubourguet dans les Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Archaeological Museum of Maubourguet

    9 Saint-Girons
    65700 Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Musée archéologique de Maubourguet
Crédit photo : Poudou99 - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Époque contemporaine
2000
1971
Site Identification
12 avril 1979
Discovery of the mosaic
7 juillet 1980
Historical monument classification
2005-2010
Deposit and restoration
17 juin 2011
Opening of the museum
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The mosaic located on the Maubourguet Archaeological Museum, located 140 Larbanès aisle, appearing in the cadastre section D, under No. 62: inscription by order of 7 July 1980, as amended by order of 15 September 2021

Key figures

Sylvain Doussau - Amateur archaeologist Identified the site in 1971.
Yves Fraysse - Local entrepreneur Discoverer of mosaic in 1979.
Catherine Balmelle - Research Officer at CNRS Scientific study of mosaic.
Jean Guilhas - Mayor of Maubourguet (from 1998) Sponsor of the museum project.
Roland Coquerel - Correspondent of regional antiques Participated in the initial searches.

Origin and history

The archaeological museum of Maubourguet has its origin in the fortuitous discovery in April 1979 of a Gallo-Roman mosaic of 20 m2 in the district of Saint-Girons. This work, dating from the late fourth or early fifth century, decorated the frigidarium (cold water tank) of the thermal baths of a rich villa. Its exceptional decor, centered on the ocean god surrounded by dolphins, fish and shellfish, makes it a rare testimony of the school of the Mosaïsts of Aquitaine. The site, identified as Gallo-Roman in 1971 by amateur archaeologist Sylvain Doussau, also reveals traces of a possible late Christian place of worship, suggested by burials and the toponym Saint-Girons, linked to an evangelizer of Roman Gaul.

The mosaic, classified as a historic monument in 1980, remained buried for protection until 2005. Its deposit and restoration, carried out between 2003 and 2010, allowed the establishment of the museum inaugurated in 2011. The excavations also revealed ancient walls 70 cm thick, reconstituted in the current museum space. This project, led by Jean Guilhas (Mayor of Maubourguet in 1998), involved experts such as Catherine Balmelle (CNRS) and Roland Coquerel, former regional antique correspondent.

The museum highlights this unique mosaic, symbol of the Gallo-Roman heritage of the Hautes-Pyrénées. Its decoration, combining pagan mythology and indices of Christianization, illustrates the cultural transition from late antiquity to Occitanie. The objects discovered on site (tiles, ceramics, sarcophagus) complete the understanding of this agricultural and thermal domain, probably occupied until the fifth century.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum