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Museum of Villa Gallo Romaine de Seviac à Montréal dans le Gers

Musée
Vestiges Gallo-romain
Musée d'Archéologie gallo-romaine
Gers

Museum of Villa Gallo Romaine de Seviac

    Le Bourg 
    32250 Montréal

Timeline

Antiquité
Haut Moyen Âge
Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1800
1900
2000
Ier siècle
Origin of the site
IIe siècle
Initial construction
Fin IVe siècle
Major restructuring
Début VIe siècle
Construction of the Baptistery
1864
Fortuitous discovery
1868
First excavations
1959-1997
Systematic search
1978
Historical monument classification
2003
Transfer to the municipality
2016-2018
Restoration of mosaics
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Key figures

Abbé Monnier - Curé and amateur archaeologist Discover the first mosaic in 1868.
Paulette Aragon-Launet - Archaeologist and Founder Starts the excavations again in 1959, runs the countryside.
Odilon Lannelongue - Physician and archaeologist Directs excavations around 1911.

Origin and history

The Gallo-Roman villa of Séviac, located in Montreal-du-Gers in Gers (Occitanie), is a major archaeological site discovered in the 19th century. It extends on a plateau at 135 meters above sea level, near the Auzoue and Argentans rivers, avoiding flooding and humidity. This strategic place is about a dozen kilometers from the ancient ancient city of Elusa (Eauze), highlighting its regional importance.

The site could be discovered in 1864 when a farm was built. In 1868 Abbé Monnier, parish priest of Labarrère, discovered a mosaic and asked for funds for excavations. Serious campaigns were carried out before 1914, and the site was abandoned until the 1950s. In 1959, Paulette Aragon-Launet, inspired by her father's accounts of the 1911 excavations, revived the research. In 1966, she founded an association that led the summer excavations for thirty years (1967)-1997, before the commune of Montréal-du-Gers n.

The site is famous for its polychrome mosaics, attributed to the School of Aquitaine and dated between the end of the fourth and the middle of the fifth century. These works, covering 625 m2, decorated the reception and circulation spaces of the villa. Restored from the 1990s, they are now protected by a translucent structure of 2,070 m2. Among them, the mosaic with trees (420-440) is distinguished by its artistic originality. Other objects, such as a bronze toe (disappeared) or Pyrenean marble capitals, testify to the richness of the site.

Occupied almost a millennium, the site evolves from a modest local in the first century to a villa enlarged in the second and fourth centuries. In the sixth century, a Baptistery was built there, reflecting the implantation of Christianity. The villa, structured around a courtyard-garden of 30 meters side, includes domestic spaces, thermal baths (with tepidarium and caldarium), and reception rooms. After its decline, the ruins served as a necropolis between the eighth and eleventh centuries.

Ranked a historic monument in 1978 (with extensions in 2012 and 2014), Séviac has been integrating the archaeological pole Elusa Capitale Antique since 2008. The excavations revealed everyday objects (oil lamps, fibules, tools) and fragments of statuettes, such as an anadyomen Venus or a putto. These artifacts, exposed temporarily, illustrate the aristocratic and artisanal life of the villa.

External links

Conditions of visit

  • Conditions de visite : Ouvert toute l'année
  • Contact organisation : 05 62 09 71 38