TWO ROOMS 
TWO PERIODS 

IN THE STEPS OF THE GALLO-ROMANS

The Gallo-Roman Room displays a rich variety of furnishings from an ancient settlement which extended both over the Mont-Rivel and, just below, to Saint-Germain en Montagne. The collections illustrate the daily life (craft and trade, religion, leisure etc.) of the ancestors who lived there from the 1st to the 4th centuries A.D. The Mont-Rivel sector was visited by pilgrims who came to worship their gods in one or other of the two temples whose construction shows features of both Gallic and Roman traditions. Below, rows of shops lined the Roman road running from Dijon to Lausanne. Here travellers could buy the famous salted foods of the Sequani, the reputation of which had travelled to Rome itself. Re-formed in June 1999, the Gallo-Roman section includes objects which have just been restored and have never before been shown to the public. The display-units are arranged thematically to offer a very faithful representation of daily life in the Jura of the Gallo-Roman era.

AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE MEROVINGIANS

The main hall of the museum contains the superb Merovingian collections from the burial grounds of Crotenay and Monnet la Ville. These funeral objects were intended to accompany the deceased into the next world. They give us essential information on belief and custom concerning death (funeral practice, the influence of Christianity) and also on the world of the living (aristocracy, dress and ornament etc.). The tombs themselves, of both men and women, give valuable insight into the nature of life at this time of transition, when some "barbarians" had already settled peacefully in Gaul.
The objects most admired by visitors are certainly the damascened buckle-plates, encrusted by hammering silver or brass threads onto a chiselled surface. They show a remarkable mastery of the goldsmith's art. 

Discovering the Museum :
introducing the Museum
general information about the Museum
the Museum as a teaching facility

summary