2016-09-03 Musee de Angouleme; Roman Art

Archaeological and Historical Museum of the Charente[edit]

Casque d'Agris
The Musée d'Angoulême collection is predated by the collection of the Archaeological and Historical Society of the Charente, which in 1845 established a collection in the former castle of the counts of Angoulême. When the castle was demolished to make way for the new city hall the collection was moved to the basement of the Palace of Justice, then in 1876 to a large room on the ground floor of the new city hall. After World War II (1939–45) it was moved to a large house on the Rue de Montmoreau. The city's collection is much richer in prehistory and protohistory, but the Society has a much richer lapidary collection and many medieval and renaissance artifacts such as pottery, enamels, glass, pewter and so on.

The total renovation of the Musée d'Angoulême in 2005–08 gave it room for a major gallery on Prehistory and Early History and space to present ancient sculptures and late 10th and early 11th century objects excavated from the Andone Castrum. The Society decided to entrust several major pieces to the city. These included various paleolithic objects, some neolithic ceramics, selected bronzes from Vénat (Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente), two Gallic statues from Jarnax and several Gallo-Roman statues.