Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord

The Museum of Art and Archeology of Périgord (Périgueux Museum of Art and Archaeology) is a municipal museum located in Périgueux.

Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord history

Founded in 1835, the museum is the oldest in the Dordogne and it includes over 2,000 square metres of permanent exhibition.

In 1857, a section dedicated to the fine arts was added to the museum’s archaeological nucleus. It was then the only public collection of this nature in Dordogne.

35 years later, upon the consistent bequeath of the Marquis de Saint-Astier of over 150 paintings (Flemish, French and Italian, from the 16th to the 19th century), the city decided to buy the old Augustinian convent, where the collection of the archaeological museum of the Dordogne department is now exhibited, and the buildings around it to create a new structure.

The archaeological collection was quickly expanded with geology, mineralogy, and prehistory collections as well as pieces from the medieval period resulting from research in Périgord. Archaeological pieces from North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia), Greece, Italy, Oceania, and the Americas were later added to the museum’s main collection.

The museum has been a Monument historique of France since 2020.

Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord today

Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord displays a wide range of art and artefacts dating back as far as 70,000 years ago and spanning, amongst others, the Roman and medieval eras.

Much of the Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord is concerned with burial rituals and, as the name suggests, the museum also has an extensive display of artwork from around Europe.

There are three main collections at the museum; the pre-historic collection, the medieval collection spanning from the 4th to 15th century and finally the fine arts collections from the 16th to 21st century.

Getting to Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord

The address of the Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord is 22 cours Tourny, 24000, Perigueux France. The city is accessible via the A89 motorway and Périgueux SNCF station. If travelling by car, Perigueux is roughly an horu and 15 minutes from Bordeaux and an hour away from Brive la Gaillarde and Angoulême.

If you plan on walking to the museum, is is roughly 10 minutes from the local tourist office and 5 minutes rom Saint-Front Cathedral. There is parking nearby.