The Lapidary Museum is a

lapidarium A lapidarium is a place where stone (Latin: ) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. They can include stone epigraphs; statues; architectural elements such as columns, cornices, and acroterions; bas reliefs, tombsto ...

-museum in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune ha ...

, France. It has housed the classical Greek, Etruscan, Roman and

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

sculptures and objects of the

Calvet Museum The Calvet Museum (''musée Calvet'') is the main museum in Avignon. Since the 1980s the collection has been split between two buildings, with the fine arts housed in an 18th-century hôtel particulier and a separate Lapidary Museum in the former ...

since the 1980s. They are both run by the Fondation Calvet. As well as exhibiting the museum's core collections, it also mounts summer temporary exhibitions (e.g. "La diffusion des cultes égyptiens et alexandrins dans le monde romain à L'Égypte copte et l'Égypte musulmane" and "Le laraire d' Esprit Calvet"), conferences and networking events, particularly for scholars. The museum is based at 27 rue de la République in a 17th-century building, previously the chapel of the city's Jesuit College. It was begun in 1616, initially to plans by Étienne Martelange and then by

François de Royers de la Valfenière François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

from 1620 onwards. de la Valfenière raised the walls as far as the nave's main cornice. The building was made a monument historique on 21 June 1928.

Collections

As well as Etruria, classical Greece and Rome and the Gallo-Roman era, the collections cover Gallic and Early Christian art. The highlight of the prehistoric collections is the ' Lauris- Puyvert Stela' in ologenic limestone. The Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Gallic objects include vases and lamps as well as

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s and statues, along with a number of Etruscan funerary monuments.

Greece

Statues

Apollo Sauroctonus ''Apollo Sauroktonos'' (Apollo Lizard-killer) is the title of several 1st - 2nd century AD Roman marble copies of an original by the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles. The statues depict a nude adolescent Apollo about to catch a lizard climbing u ...

, head lost, 1st century AD * Woman in a

chlamys The chlamys (Ancient Greek: χλαμύς : chlamýs, genitive: χλαμύδος : chlamydos) was a type of an ancient Greek cloak.

and

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail sh ...

, head lost, 2nd century BC * Athena in a peplos, the skin of the goat Amalthea, the

Gorgoneion In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion ( Greek: Γοργόνειον) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used by the Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both are said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant,. and ...

and a plumed Corinthian helmet decorated with rams' heads Musée lapidaire d'Avignon-Apollon sauroctone.jpg, Apollo Musée lapidaire d'Avignon, statue d'Athéna.jpg, Athena Musée lapidaire d'Avignon, statue acéphale de femme.jpg, Woman

Steles

* Stela of a young woman in a tunic and mantle between two Doric columns, with a female slave presenting her with a duck, marble,

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

n, 399-375 BC * Young woman in a tunic and peplos holding her hand to her hair -

n, 399-375 BC * Stela of Menodotos - Woman in a

and

himation A himation ( grc, ἱμάτιον ) was a type of clothing, a mantle or wrap worn by ancient Greek men and women from the Archaic through the Hellenistic periods (c. 750–30 BC). It was usually worn over a chiton and/or peplos, but was made o ...

sitting on a stool beside a standing man, all between two Corinthian columns and a triangular pediment * Stela of Glykon and his son Tateis - upper register showing

Hecate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depict ...

in her triple form with Demeter to the right, Men to the left and a crescent moon in the background; lower register showing the busts of a woman and a boy - 4th century BC * Stela - seated woman with her feet on a stool holding an oblong object (possibly an egg or fruit) out to a snake, with a female slave to the left ina long tunic and handing another object to her mistress -

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The na ...

, 1st or 2nd century BC Stèle funéraire-Musée lapidaire d'Avignon.jpg, Young woman Jeune femme-Musée lapidaire d'Avignon.jpg, Young woman with her hand on her hair Stèle de Ménodotè-Musée lapidaire d'Avignon.jpg, Stela of Menodotus Stèle de Glykon-Musée lapidaire Avignon.jpg, Stela of Glykon and his son Tateis Stèle anépigraphique-Musée Lapidaire Avignon.jpg, Stela without an inscription

Reliefs and objects

Vases

Roman sculptures

* Veiled woman holding a

patera In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''phiale'' ( ) or ''patera'' () is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation ('' omphalos'', "bellybutton") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, i ...

in her right hand, possibly a priestess or goddess * Woman with a dolphin, head lost * Funerary urn, marble, with an epitaph to C. Silius Herma and his slave * Funerary urn, rectangular, marble, with an epitaph to Marcus Domitius Urbicus * Man's head * Two-headed Hermes Musée lapidaire Avignon-Femme voilée.jpg, Veiled woman Musée lapidaire Avignon-statue féminine.jpg, Woman Musée lapidaire Avignon-Silius Herma.jpg, Silius Herma urn Musée lapidaire Avignon-Marcus Domitius.jpg, Marcus Domitius urn Musée lapidaire Avignon-tête masculine.jpg, Man's head Musée lapidaire Avignon-Hermès.jpg, Two-headed Hermes

Gaul

Early Christian

Bibliography

* Joseph Girard, ''Évocation du Vieil Avignon'', Les Éditions de Minuit, Paris, 2000,

References

{{authority control Museums in Avignon Archaeological museums in France