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Key figures

Origin and history

The museum of Auch was created by an order of the Executive Board of the Gers department on 16 December 1793, based on revolutionary seizures. Its collections enriched at the end of the 19th century thanks to the objects of the archaeological museum of the Historical Society of Gascogne. A section of gasconne d ́ethnography was added in 1948. The museum was distinguished from the beginning of the 20th century by its Latin American collections, brought back by Gersois travellers like Guillaume Pujos, who left in Chile and Peru after the phylloxera crisis.

Guillaume Pujos, an amateur of enlightened art, presented the museum with rare objects, including a unique set of colonial sacred art statuettes, before becoming the curator. In 1911 his collections were exhibited to the public. In the 1950s, under the leadership of Henri Polge (conservative), the museum received deposits from the Eyzies and Annecy Museum, forming one of France's main pre-Columbian art holdings (1,500 pieces). A major donation in 2006, that of Madame Lions (6,000 Peruvian objects), quadruple this collection.

The museum now houses 7,500 prehispanic pieces, France's second public collection, as well as a unique Latin American sacred art fonds, including a Mexican mosaic in feathers of 1539 (La Masse de Saint-Grégoire). The collections also cover Egyptian and Gallo-Roman archaeology, the Middle Ages (with elements of St. Mary's Cathedral), and the decorative arts (faiences of Auch, 18th century furniture). A section is dedicated to popular gascones traditions, with 3,000 pieces of 19th century costumes and accessories.

The museum is housed in the ancient Jacobin convent, an associated historical monument. Its revolutionary origins and its successive enrichments make it a major place for studying cultural exchanges between the Biscay and the Americas.

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