Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée départemental de la céramique de Lezoux is located in a former 19th century pottery factory, the Bompard factory. This place bears witness to a thousand-year-old ceramic tradition, since between the first and fourth centuries Lezoux was one of the largest ceramic production centres in the Roman Empire. The potters made hundreds of millions of vases there, including the famous sigillated dishes, exported throughout Europe as a symbol of the spread of romance. The archaeological site, known since the 18th century, attracted the attention of scholars in the 19th century, which formed collections centered on the sigilla.

The first museum was inaugurated in 1957 by the Lezoux Archaeological Committee, before becoming a municipal in 1966 under the leadership of Hugues Vertet. The latter, a curator and researcher at the CNRS, conducted most of the excavations conducted between 1960 and 1980. The present departmental museum opened in 2007 in the renovated premises of the Bompard factory, combining industrial and archaeological heritage. The buildings, organized around a courtyard, house monumental 19th-century ovens and an accessible museum trail, highlighting the history of the Lézovian potters, from ancient times to the present.

Beyond its conservation role, the museum values contemporary ceramic creation through exhibitions, artist residences and acquisitions. It benefits from the label Musée de France and strives to make its heritage accessible to all audiences. The former Bompard factory, classified as an associated Historical Monument, illustrates the continuity between old techniques and more recent industrial practices, while anchoring the museum in its historical territory.

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