Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Archaeological Museum of Brumath was born of accidental discoveries in 1964, when Roman pottery was exhumed on Rue des Romans. These findings mobilized local enthusiasts, leading to a first exhibition in 1966 at the City Hall, entitled "Brumath's Past", covering Neolithic in the 19th century. The official creation of the museum took place in 1971, after the discovery in 1968 of Roman baths on Rue du Général Rampont (now rue des Thermes), searched with the help of volunteers and the Service of Historical Antiquities. These vestiges, dating back to the second century, revealed a hypocaust heating system and confirmed the importance of Brocomagus, the ancient name of Brumath, as the civilian capital of the Triboques under the Roman Empire.

The collections enriched between 1968 and 1970 thanks to excavations linked to urban sanitation, delivering ceramics, sculptures and Gallo-Roman bronzes. The museum settled in the vaulted cellars of the former Hanau-Lichtenberg Castle, transformed into a Protestant church in 1804. Managed by the Brumath History and Archaeology Society (SHAB, which became SHABE in 1983), it was inaugurated in 1971 and renovated in 1983 and 2005 to modernize its museum. The objects exhibited mainly come from the local basement, but also from regional donations (Bischwiller, Hochfelden), illustrating daily life, domestic cults and Roman crafts (potteries, fibula, oil lamps).

The museum's history dates back to the 18th century, however, with the collections of historian Jean-Daniel Schoepflin, whose objects (milestone of Valérien, statue of a bearded god dedicated to Eruma) were destroyed in 1870 during the siege of Strasbourg. In the 19th century, systematic excavations were carried out by Maximilien de Ring (The Celtic Tombs of the Bramath Forest, 1858) and Louis Schnoeringer, a collector's doctor whose pieces were transferred to the Mulhouse Museum. Research continued in the 20th century, such as the excavation of a protohistoric tumulus in 1923, interrupted by the Second World War.

The museum highlights the Gallo-Roman period (I–Vth century), the Golden Age of Brocomagus, through reconstructions of houses (walls in blindfolded, hypocaustes), domestic objects (amphores, oil lamps, enamelled fibules) and religious elements (altar dedicated to Jupiter, statuettes of deities). The public thermal baths, discovered in 1968, and the necropolises (tombes with burial, cinemar urns) complete this picture. A contemporary statue of Marcus Ulpius Tertius, a Triboque soldier who became the guard of Emperor Trajan, was inaugurated in 2019 to symbolize this prestigious past.

Current challenges include stopping excavations, limited by budgetary and legal constraints. SHABE is now dedicated to inventory, publications (annual newsletter) and animation, such as historical reconstructions during Heritage Days. The museum, opened by appointment and at specific events, has been working with local schools since 2009 to transmit this heritage to younger generations.

Among the remarkable pieces are a mammoth mandible (Paleolithic), a bronze dagger from Bronze Age (tumulus 17), and four Gallo-Roman bronze statuettes (II–III century), copies of the original oxidized. A sculpted column depicting Jupiter cavalier at the Anguipede, discovered in 1968, illustrates public worship. The High Middle Ages is evoked by Merovingian and Carolingian objects, such as a scramasax or a bowl of Bilwisheim, recalling the transition to medieval times.

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