Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Gajac Museum, opened in 1999 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, occupies a former water mill founded in 1185 by the Benedictine Abbey of Eysses. With four wheels, he supplied the monks with flour before being destroyed during the Wars of Religion, then restored. This industrial site evolved over the centuries: bought in the 18th century by the Bercegol merchants, transformed into a mill in 1860 by Jean-Osmin Jaubert, then into a power plant in 1896 by the Renoux company.

In 1946, the mill became a regional headquarters of EDF after the nationalization of electricity, before being abandoned in the 1960s. Ranked in 1969, it was acquired by the city in 1981. Under the leadership of curator Louis Moyret, the building was renovated between 1986 and 1989 to house a museum, inaugurated in 1999 with an exhibition dedicated to the engravings of Piranese. Since 1996, the museum has included the collections of the Gaston Rapin Museum.

Today, the Gajac Museum is divided into two spaces: one presents works from the 17th to 20th centuries from the permanent collections, the other hosts temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Artists exhibited since 2002 include Claude Viallat, Pierre Alechinsky, or François Peltier, reflecting his dual heritage and modern vocation.

The building, a witness to the industrial and religious history of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, also symbolizes the reconversion of the heritage. Its location on the banks of the Lot, right in the city centre, makes it a major cultural place in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, mixing local memory and artistic creation.

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