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The Boucher de Perthes Museum is housed in the centre of
Abbeville,
in the old belfry and
an adjoining modern building. Since 1954, it has united the
two XIXth century Abbeville museums.
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• the old Boucher de Perthes Museum situated in
the Hôtel de Chepy, was destroyed in the German attack
on 20 May 1940. It was bequeathed to the Town of Abbeville
with its important collections of objets d’art and archaeological
pieces owned by Jacques Boucher de Perthes, who died
in 1868..
• The Museum of Abbeville
and Le Ponthieu was founded in 1833 by the Historical
and Literary Society of Abbeville, whose president at
that time was Jacques Boucher de Perthes. Originally
a museum of the natural sciences and antiquities, it
then acquired some important fine art collections and
was moved to the Hôtel Foucques d’Emonville in 1880.
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The archaeological collections
Situated on the first floor, they retrace the life and work
of Boucher de Perthes, along with the history of the inhabitants
of the Somme Valley from the Paleolithic to the Merovingian
period.
Pieces from Boucher de Perthes' collections
were donated by the Musée national d’Antiquités (National
Museum of Antiquities) in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, because those
in the old Boucher de Perthes Museum were destroyed on 20
May 1940.
A showcase displays flints from the Abbevillian period, a
term which is no longer used by archaeologists. This period
of the Lower Palaeolithic had been christened the "Abbevillian"
on the basis of flints found in Abbeville, which were of a
more primitive design than the bifaces found at the Saint-Acheul
quarries in Amiens. The Abbevillian has now become part of
the broader Acheulean period.
Next, there are displays of tools from the Middle Palaeolithic,
fashioned according to the so-called "levallois" method. They
come from the west of the Amiens region, mainly Ault, south
of the Baie de Somme, where a large cutting workshop was found.
Because of its harsh climate, the Somme was not inhabited
on an extended basis in the Upper Palaeolithic. The pieces
from this period are much more diverse (scribers, burins,
scrapers...) and come from hunting encampments, particularly
in the Etouvie quarter of Amiens.
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The Neolithic is well represented
by pieces found mainly in Etoile (pottery, bone tools...).
Many objects are from the Bronze Age, items of jewellery
and weapons: a straight-edged axe discovered at the
beginning of the century near Abbeville, axes from the
final Bronze Age in Crécy... Excavations for the A28
motorway (Abbeville-Rouen) have uncovered in Vismes-au-Val,
near Oisemont, graves from the end of the Iron Age,
from the IInd century B.C.. Some of the materials from
these tombs are on display in the Museum: ceramic vases,
swords, fibulae...
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Thanks to the aerial survey work done by Roger Agache, we
now know that there were people living in the Somme during
the Gallo-Roman period: many large "villae" were build on
the edges of plateaux, often on the site of "native" farms
from before the Roman conquest. A model of a Gallo-Roman villa
is on display, along with materials found mainly during excavations
on the route of the A28 (crockery, tools...).
Collections from the Merovingian period have been enriched
by discoveries made on the Vron site during the building of
the A16: weapons, crockery, items of jewellery, including
a very beautiful crossbow fibula made of gold-plated silver
and glass pearls, of Scandinavian manufacture.
Other collections in the Museum
Natural sciences
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Originally devoted to natural
history, the Museum had, in 1869, a very large naturalist
collection of 114,456 pieces. Most of this collection
and its inventory were destroyed in 1940. Only the birds
and insects remain on display.
Over 2000 specimens of birds
are still at the Museum. Those that are on public display
belong mainly to the fauna of the Baie de Somme. They
are displayed according to their classification.
Tens of thousands of insects
are preserved in their XIXth century cardboard or wooden
boxes. Beetles and butterflies are best represented.
For conservation reasons, they are displayed on a rotation
basis.
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Fine arts
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The religious objets
d’art, paintings and sculptures here are either the
work of artists from Picardy or were collected in Picardy.
The Gothic architecture of the Belfry and the treasury
are a perfect context for the mediaeval works, which
cover for the most part the work of artists from the
XIth to the XVIth century.
A magnificent altarpiece
of the life of the Virgin, dating from the beginning
of the XVIth century comes from the Saint-Honoré-de-Thuison
d'Abbeville charterhouse.
The large Paintings
room gives a fine panorama of painting from the beginning
of the XVIth century to the XVIIIth century. The Maître
de la légende de Sainte Godeliève is a triptych typical
of Bruges art from the end of the XVth century. A few
works testify also to the importance of the Confrérie
(Brotherhood) Notre-Dame du Puy d'Abbeville (Painted
panels and silver Virgin from the XVIth century).
The XVIIth century
is particularly well represented by paintings from the
Netherlands: The Game of Backgammon by Cornelius de
Vos and Descent from the Cross by Peter Van Mol. The
largest section of the museum is devoted to the XVIIIth
century from which all genres are represented: historical
paintings, war scenes, portraits, landscapes by great
painters : Largillière, Lemoyne, Greuze, Lépicié, Vernet.
A XXth century bust by Camille Claudel entitled "Psalms",
is especially worthy of note.
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Practical info
Opening
times
Everyday, from 2pm to 6pm, except
Tuesdays and some French bank holidays.
Prices
Adults
: 1 €
Children (under 18) and students : free
Boucher de Perthes Museum
24, rue Gontier Patin - 80100 ABBEVILLE
Tel : +33 (0)3 22 24 08 49 Fax : +33 (0)3 22 20
35 03
E-mail : musee-boucher-de-perthes@wanadoo.fr
Website : www.ville-abbeville.fr
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