Musée Lapidaire

This jewel of Baroque architecture is the work of two great architects, Etienne Martellange and François des Royers de la Valfenière.

Construction began in 1620, and the church was consecrated in 1655. While the building's plan is remarkably simple, the frieze above the galleries is striking in its rich ornamentation, a profusion that testifies to a restoration of the decoration in the second half of the 17th century. Within this vast space, the rooms on the left side of the nave, completed in 2014, house a remarkable collection of funerary reliefs, Greek votive offerings, Attic, Corinthian, and Italiote vases, terracotta pieces, and several sculptures in the round, including a Greek original from the Hellenistic period. The right side displays sculptures from Imperial Rome, including a monumental draped statue of a woman from the prestigious collection of Cardinal Richelieu.

The Celtic section includes two exceptional pieces: the "Tarasque" from Noves, a man-eating monster, and the "warrior" statue from Mondragon. Abundant series of inscriptions, statues, and architectural decorative elements from Roman Gaul, the result of discoveries made in the Vaucluse region since the 19th century, complete the panorama of Gallo-Roman civilization.

The collection's origins can be traced back to the cabinet of curiosities of Esprit Calvet (1728-1810), the founder of the museum that bears his name. The collection was enriched in the 19th and 20th centuries through numerous acquisitions, notably in 1841 with the purchase of part of the Venetian collection of the Nani di San Trovaso, as well as through donations, such as the one made in 1986 by the renowned collector Marcel Puech. In 2018, a selection of Egyptian works, previously housed at the Musée Calvet, will join the collection.

IH: Exterior – access ramp providing access to the museum.
Interior – It is possible to move around the museum; there are a few ramps that facilitate access to the collections located in the left side rooms and the nave.



Historical brochure of the Jesuit chapel below.