(by Paolo Levi) (ANSA) – PARIS, 15 DEC – It is a new powerful symbol of the ties that unite France and Italy, the two ‘Latin sisters’ of Europe, united by deep political, economic and cultural relations, but also and above all human through millennia of history in common. The city of Narbonne, in the south of France, pays homage to its Roman past with a new state-of-the-art museum that opened in May but only officially opened this week.
Conceived by the architectural firm Foster + Partners, the ‘Narbo Via’ – this is the name of the new cultural center of Narbonne, with a heritage of over 9,000 pieces – was born from an idea already had in the seventies by the former president of the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, now incorporated into Occitania, Georges Freche. At a cost of 57 million euros, the museum, whose works began in 2015, was financed 90% by the Occitania region. Inside, there are also many artifacts preserved for over a century inside the church of Notre-Dame de Lamourguier now set up along an impressive ‘Via lapidaria’, an ‘avenue of stones’ that crosses the permanent exhibition path of 2,800 square meters , as a backbone inside the museum, made up of 760 ancient pieces coming mostly from Roman necropolises and funerary monuments in the area. Many bear engravings, carved motifs, floral decorations, bulls or mythological motifs such as a petrified gorgon. Inside the ‘Narbo Via’ there is also a giant robot called a ‘transtockeur’, which at certain times of the day ‘grabs’ an ancient artifact and places it in a cell surrounded by information screens for visitors. The robot can also ‘help’ researchers who want to study even a single detail of Narbonne’s treasures.
Quoted by the newspaper Le Monde, the general director of the museum, Valérie Brousselle, recalls that the citizens of the ancient ‘Narbo Martius’ remain very attached to their Roman roots and have fought over the centuries to preserve its symbols.
Near the ancient Roman port not far from Spain, also passes the famous ‘Voie Domitienne’, the ‘Via Domitia’, built from 118 BC to unite Italy to the Iberian Peninsula through the ‘Gallia Narbonensis’. Lined at times by maritime pines, the roads of the region still offer landscapes very similar to those that can be admired in regions such as Lazio or Campania, between sea, hills and the imposing Pyrenees massif.
Among the most important pieces of the museum, there is also a fresco, extraordinarily well preserved, found during the excavations at the Villa du Clos de la Lombardie, near the Narbonne train station.Open in May without promotion, the ‘Narbo Via’ museum has already welcomed 100,000 visitors. It also has a restaurant, a boutique and gardens. (HANDLE).
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Source From: Ansa
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