Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum, Périgueux

The Musée Gallo-Romain Vesunna, located in the Parc de Vésone in Périgueux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, shelters the excavated remains of a large 2nd-century AD urban villa that once stood in the Roman city of Vesunna — the capital of the Gallo-Roman civitas of the Petrocorii. The museum building, completed in 2003 and designed by architect Jean Nouvel, is a masterpiece of contextual architecture: a glass and steel pavilion that encloses the entire archaeological footprint of the domus without touching it, allowing natural light to fall across the ruins while protecting them from the elements. The villa, excavated from the 1950s onwards, preserves foundations of rooms arranged around a central garden courtyard (peristyle), sections of hypocaust underfloor heating, and several of the best-preserved in-situ Roman painted wall frescoes and floor mosaics found anywhere in France. The frescoes include figurative panels depicting birds, theatrical masks, and architectural trompe-l'œil motifs rendered in red, ochre, and green. The museum collection extends beyond the villa to cover the full history of Vesunna: bronze statuettes, carved stone dedications, everyday ceramic vessels, glass perfume flasks, coins, and personal ornaments recovered from across the ancient city. The Tour de Vésone — a 27-metre-high cylindrical Roman tower, the cella of a 2nd-century temple to the city's tutelary goddess — stands in the park directly adjacent to the museum and is free to view. Together they give a vivid impression of the scale and prosperity of Vesunna at its 2nd-century peak. The museum is managed by the city of Périgueux and is a key monument of the Périgord.