Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord (MAAP)

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Formed from the early 19th century, the artistic and archaeological collections of Périgueux and the Department of Dordogne initially lacked an adequate exhibition space. In 1868, the curator of the time installed them in a former convent converted into a prison bordered by the cours Tourny, but the growth of the collections made this building too cramped and an architectural competition was launched in 1894 to create a new museum on the site coupled with a library (which would eventually be moved in 1980). The establishment was inaugurated in 1903. Having won the competition, Planckaert, architect of Limoges, created a building divided, as requested by the regulations, between the library and the museum. Access is via the North, through a triple entrance very ornately decorated. The museum is then organized around a cloister created by the architect to evoke the religious past of the site. The only surviving remnant of the old convent, the Chapel of the Augustines, dated to the 17th century, closes the building to the South. The rooms and storage areas of the museum are distributed around this cloister. The museum was intended to be fitted out on a single level lit zenithally by glazed panels, but floors were able to be added to create additional spaces. The old library was also taken over by the museum and converted into exhibition or educational rooms. The rooms and main facades of the museum are marked by imposing sculptural decoration (lion heads, festoons of vine, etc.), the architect having chosen to blend different styles in his building (classical facades, cloister of Romanesque inspiration, etc.). The museum has moreover made little change to the arrangement of certain rooms and display cases, which constitute testimony to the old museographies. The building, on the other hand, suffers from deterioration (water infiltration) and lack of space which prevents it from making full use of all its spaces, particularly the chapel.