Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Briord Museum of History and Archaeology was founded in 1958 to preserve local archaeological discoveries, including those from the Caves of Wish (Montagnieu), the Mopard Coast (Glandieu), and the Planted Necropolis in Briord. These excavations, carried out by the Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Briord and its surroundings (S.H.A.B.E.), revealed objects dating from the Mesolithic period in the High Middle Ages, including Gallo-Roman jewellery, neolithic tools and Christian inscriptions.

Inaugurated on September 11, 1960 in the temporary premises of the church cure, the museum moved in 1985 to a communal building in the centre of Briord. Until 1991, it continued to enrich itself through excavations at sites such as the Colombier in Sault-Brénaz. His collections, displayed chronologically, include funeral objects, ceramics, flint tools, and bones of prehistoric animals, such as those of a bear discovered in the cave of the Pissoir in Torcieu.

The museum showcases Gallo-Roman and Merovingian funeral rites, with incineration reconstitutions and showcases dedicated to jewellery, coins and Christian inscriptions of the Church of Saint-Maurice. A room is dedicated to the Cave of Wish, where neolithic burials and mesolithic tools, including microburins dating from the 7th millennium BC, are exhibited. The museum also plays a conservation role for archaeological deposits found by individuals or researchers.

Close to the Roman aqueduct of Briord, classified as a historical monument, the museum benefits from the label Musée de France. It illustrates the evolution of cultural and funeral practices in the region, from Prehistory to the early Middle Ages, through objects from systematic excavations or by chance discoveries.

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