Musée des Jacobins

Description

The Musée des Jacobins is the town museum in Auch. It houses France's second biggest collection of Pre-Columbian art after the quai Branly, with which it has collaborated for many years. The museum garden is a 1600 square metre containing plants brought back from the Americas by the Conquistadors.

The museum was founded on 16 December 1793 and is one of France's oldest museums, housing over 20,000 objects, including 8,000 Pre-Columbian works. The building housing it, known as 'des Jacobins', was listed as a historic monument and was originally built as a Jacobin convent in the 15th century. The museum moved into it in 1979 after a major restoration project.

One of the major objects is Statue of Trajan, 1st century AD, discovered near Rome in the 18th century.