Ajax loader
By using our website, you agree to our use of cookies as described in Cookie Policy.
The Piette collection
The Piette collection

The Piette collection, one of the world's finest collections of prehistoric sculptures and engravings, is now on display at the National Archaeological Museum at Saint Germain en Laye. It was donated to the museum in 1904, but a century passed before it was put on public display.
Edouard Piette (1827-1906), the son of a property owner, studied law in Paris but his passion was archaeology. In 1870, a trip to the Pyrenees allowed him to discover the caves of the region, and he threw himself into their exploration, financing private excavations and making some important discoveries.
From 1871 to 1875, Piette excavated the caves of Gourdan, Lortet and Espalungue and later, from 1887 to 1897, the Mas d'Azil and the Grotte du Pape (Pope's cave) at Brassempouy.
Over a thirty year period, Piette assembled a collection incorporating several thousand pieces: stone tools and sculptures and engravings representing animals and humans and geometric shapes fashioned from bone or ivory.
This enthusiast's contribution is highly significant and he donated all these treasures to the museum before his death in 1906.
However, Piette donated his collection on the condition that his design of the room, his classification of the artefacts and his style of assembling tightly packed sets of objects in the display cabinets, be respected. For several reasons, for a century, the Piette Room has only been accessible to specialists.
In 2002, the decision to restore the room was taken. The refitting began in 2005 and will continue into 2009.
08-534082
Champion Benoit Claude (1862-1952)
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, musée d'Archéologie nationale et Domaine national de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Page
of 1
Display
Items per page
Active Lightbox:
Open Lightboxes