The cenotaph | ©Pline / CC-BY-SAThe museum
Oh, plenty of treasures, here! A museum full of works of art: paintings, archaeological collections, sculptures…
In fact, we learn all about Aquitaine’s history, since Prehistory from modern times!
We have: the Prehistoric Venus of Laussel, the gorgeous treasure of Tayac (2th c. BC), Gallo-Roman sarcophagus and mosaics…
A well-worth seeing visit, in Bordeaux!
Montaigne’s cenotaph
After his death, famous French writer from Renaissance, Montaigne, asked to be buried in the church of Feuillants, in Bordeaux.
But his heart would stay in the church of Montaigne, his native land, his fief.
His widow, Françoise de Chassaigne, one year after his death in 1592, ordered a big cenotaph to sculptors Prieur and Guillermain.
A cenotaph? A funerary monument where the body is not buried in. A gorgeous monument!
Made of stone from Taillebourg, we can see Montaigne’s recumbent statue wearing his armour, kneeling with his hands clasped together.
He has a helmet behind hid head, a sword and gloves by his sides, a lion at his feet.
The cord of Saint-Michel’s order surrounds his blazon. Next to the coat of arm, we have two epitaphs, in Greek and in Latin.
The one in Latin begins by: ″To Michel de Montaigne, son of Pierre, grand-son of Grimond, grand-grand-son of Raymond, knight of Saint-Michel, ex-mayor of the city of Bordeaux, a man born for the glory, with gentle manners, a witty mind...″
At the end of the 19th century, the cenotaph moved in the city faculty, the current museum of Aquitaine.
