NARBO VIA - Roman Empire in Southern FRANCE скачать в хорошем качестве

NARBO VIA - Roman Empire in Southern FRANCE

Narbo Via is a major archaeological museum in Narbonne, southern France, dedicated to the Roman history of the ancient colony of Narbo Martius, one of the earliest Roman settlements outside Italy. Opened in 2021, the museum stands near the original Via Domitia route and close to the Mediterranean lagoons that once formed the city’s harbor system. Its purpose is to gather, preserve, and interpret thousands of artifacts discovered in and around Narbonne, many of which had been stored for decades due to lack of exhibition space. The building itself is a prominent example of contemporary museum architecture, designed by the Belgian firm Robbrecht en Daem. Its elongated horizontal form evokes the landscape of the coastal plain, while the textured concrete façade recalls stratified geological layers. Inside, the structure is organized around large open galleries that allow visitors to perceive the scale of Roman urban life. Natural light is carefully controlled to protect sensitive objects while maintaining a strong visual connection to the surrounding environment. The museum’s most striking feature is a monumental wall displaying nearly a thousand carved stone blocks, many of them funerary stelae, architectural fragments, and inscriptions. This lapidary collection provides direct evidence of the social diversity of Roman Narbo Martius, including soldiers, merchants, freed slaves, and local elites. The arrangement allows scholars and visitors alike to study epigraphy, iconography, and stoneworking techniques in a single continuous field. Beyond the stone collection, Narbo Via exhibits ceramics, glassware, coins, tools, and personal items that illuminate daily life in a provincial Roman port city. Trade networks are a central theme, as Narbonne functioned as a key distribution hub linking the Mediterranean world to inland Gaul. Amphorae remains, ship equipment, and imported luxury goods demonstrate the city’s economic vitality from the late Republic through Late Antiquity. Interactive displays and reconstructions help situate the artifacts within their historical context, including models of the ancient harbor complex, roads, and urban layout. The museum also emphasizes archaeological methodology, explaining how excavations, stratigraphy, and conservation practices contribute to modern understanding of Roman civilization. Narbo Via serves not only as an exhibition space but also as a research and storage center, with visible reserves that allow visitors to see how collections are cataloged and preserved. This transparency reflects current museological trends that treat storage as an extension of public knowledge rather than a hidden backstage area. As a cultural institution, the museum reinforces Narbonne’s identity as a former Roman capital of Gallia Narbonensis. It has become a focal point for tourism, education, and academic study, offering lectures, temporary exhibitions, and collaborations with international researchers. By concentrating an exceptional body of material evidence in one place, Narbo Via provides one of the most comprehensive insights into Roman provincial life in Western Europe.