During Archeology Days, until June 20, visitors will see that Gallic civilization is the subject of numerous studies and discoveries.
However, archaeological museums show little Gallic objects.
With a little imagination, there would be material to create a “great Gallic museum”, according to Dominique Garcia.
And my golden torque?
Is it fake my golden torque?
From here we hear Vercingetorix vituperated if the glorious Gallic leader knew the fate reserved, in French museums, for the artefacts of the peoples he had managed to federate.
A particularly absurd situation ...
While Archeology Days are being held, hundreds of excavation sites will welcome visitors for tours and activities.
And what will the curious discover there?
Protohistoric Gallic, essentially.
" It's a reality.
Since then, the Gallic period is the one about which we have accumulated the most new knowledge and on which we make the most beautiful discoveries ”, comments Dominique Garcia, president of the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) and author of
The Gauls with the naked eye
.
But then, once out of the earth, where to see these wonders?
Let's take a tour (of Gaul) of the archaeological museums.
The premium for antique aesthetics
In Nîmes, the brand new archaeological museum, an architectural gesture opposite the amphitheater (Roman, of course), took the name of Museum of Romanity. Everything is said… In a city marked by the splendor of Gallo-Roman buildings, that's quite normal. The current exciting exhibition even celebrates
The Roman Emperor, a mortal among the gods
. "Nîmes is the ideal city to host this exhibition," pleads Manuela Lambert, curator of the museum. The city preserves unique vestiges of this imperial era. "
Further west, the ancient museum of Arles also gives pride of place to invaders in toga (and worse, to César, star of the museum with his bust unearthed in the Rhône).
And to the east, in Narbonne, the new Narbo Via museum begins its journey after the conquest of Caesar.
Exit, purely and simply our proud Gauls.
Even though a Gallic oppidum foreshadowed the Roman Narbo.
“For a long time, museums have collected objects without context,” says Dominique Garcia.
Greek and Roman art was more popular.
The great national museums presented the great classical civilizations, of Greece or Rome, or even of Egypt, of the Middle East… Everything except the Gallic civilization in fact!
"
It's in the old barrels ...
Why so much disdain? Gallic art would it be too ugly. "Not at all," protests Michel Rouger, director of the MuséoParc d'Alésia. There are magnificent pieces, gold jewelry, iron and glass objects… ”Its museum, which offers, from July 3, a new permanent route shows, for example, that the Gauls formed an advanced civilization in many fields, including the art of war (even if the outcome of the battle of Alesia does not plead too much for this theory…).
Thus, it would be quite possible for museums to highlight Gallic history. With a little imagination. “There were a lot of wooden objects that have not been preserved, or broken ceramics, concedes Michel Rouger. It's more difficult with the Gauls than with the Romans, it's true, especially with 100% pure Gallic juice, which is obviously older. At the MuséoParc d'Alésia, the emphasis was thus placed on scenography and digital devices, but also on experimental archeology, to bring the Gauls back to life. "In the permanent exhibition, we immersed visitors in the siege of Alésia and we did not talk at all about the life of the Gauls before the siege," explains Michel Rouger. We changed that, we made our revolution. Today we know them to tell the story of the life of the Mandubians,the Gauls before the battle. "
Brand new Gauls
“There is a story to tell, enthuses Dominique Garcia.
For a long time, the Gauls were only known through sites like Alésia and Gergovie, places of battle.
It's as if we wanted to tell the twentieth century with the remains of the D-Day landing beaches.
But the archaeological excavations of recent years have revealed Gaul which was not known: farms, fields, necropolises, sanctuaries, sites of iron and gold mining… ”
Michel Rouger confirms that there is a lot of work to be done with the public.
“In Alésia, visitors arrive with a lot of clichés about the Gauls.
About the Roman army, they know things, but the Gauls are seen as savages.
Asterix remains the main source: we are told about wild boars and helmets with horns or wings, leaders on shields… Our job is to demonstrate that this is not what the Gauls formed a very advanced civilization.
"
A great Gallic museum
But we come back to the problem of museums which show little Gallic objects.
“Besides Alésia, Gergovie and Bibracte, there are fine collections in Toulouse, at the Saint-Raymond museum - splendid torques in particular - and in Bordeaux, at the Aquitaine museum, explains Dominique Garcia.
But it lacks a large museum of Gallic civilization.
"
Would the Gauls alone be of interest to the general public?
Michel Rouger wonders: “On a larger public, what interests people is the opposition between Gauls and Romans, like cowboys and Indians, these are universes about which we fantasize and which arouse curiosity.
"
Dominique Gracia, he wants to believe it: “Caesar, then Napoleon 3, built the image of the barbarian Gaul through propaganda: from their necessary disappearance civilization would be born.
But in the current context, there is a renewed interest in our identities and our ancient history.
And the Gauls have a special place there.
To tell the story of the Gauls is to tell how a culture is built, how a people is born, how a civilization develops.
The French are ready to accept their Gallic past!
"
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