Musée départemental des antiquités

The Musée des Antiquités is an archaeological museum in Rouen, France, classified as a Museum of France. Founded in 1831, it houses archaeological finds from the department of Seine-Maritime in Normandy. The institution was known until around 2016 as the Musée départemental des Antiquités, when it transferred to metropolitan authority and adopted its current name.

The museum was established on 19 December 1831 to accommodate finds excavated at Lillebonne, following the initiative of prefect Henri Dupont-Delporte. Achille Deville served as its first director, while Jean Benoît Désiré Cochet, known as abbé Cochet, was among its first curators. The institution suffered a destructive fire on 21 April 1894. Later directors included Léon de Vesly, Jules Vernier, Raphaël Garreta, Caroline Dorion-Peyronnet, and since 2018 Mathilde Schneider. On 1 January 2016, the museum moved to the Métropole Rouen Normandie and became part of the Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie network. A project aims to unite the Musée des Antiquités with the muséum to create a new museum complex by 2028; due to preparatory works, the galleries closed on 22 September 2024.

The collections span from the Bronze Age to the Renaissance, with particular strength in regional material from Seine-Maritime. The protohistoric, Gallo-Roman, and Merovingian assemblages are especially significant, documenting the material life of these civilizations. Medieval and Renaissance art objects, including goldsmith work, ivories, enamels, sculptures, stained glass, and tapestries, illustrate artistic developments in France and Normandy. The museum also holds architectural woodwork and interior decorative elements from the 15th and 16th centuries, recovered during 19th-century urban redevelopment in Rouen. Non-regional collections include Egyptian, Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman African antiquities, acquired through 19th- and 20th-century bequests.

The Bronze Age collection features deposits of bronze socketed axes from Heuqueville and conical crested helmets, sometimes erroneously attributed to Gauls in 19th- and early 20th-century iconography, plus a long sword ancestral to Gallic types. Iron Age holdings include remains from a La Tène chieftain's chariot burial, with iron wheel tyres and vehicle fittings, and a Gallic helmet from Amfreville-sous-les-Monts decorated with triskeles. The Gallo-Roman collections encompass ceramics including decorated sigillae ware, the urban domus from the cour d'Albane, and mosaics from Lillebonne and Brotonne illustrating luxurious domestic decoration.

The museum occupies the former convent of Sainte-Marie, a 17th-century building constructed between 1680 and 1691. The conventual church, begun on 6 August 1711 by Dominican architect Pierre Caumont and completed in the 18th century, was destroyed during the Revolution. The building was listed as a historic monument in 1862. The museum is located at 198, rue Beauvoisine, with additional access from rue Louis-Ricard via square André-Maurois. The site is served by the Beauvoisine metro station.

The Musée des Antiquités is located in Rouen, Normandy, France, at 198, rue Beauvoisine, with an entrance also accessible from rue Louis-Ricard. Public transport access is available via the Beauvoisine metro station. Since 1 January 2016, the museum has been owned by the Métropole Rouen Normandie and operates within the Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie network. As of September 2024, the galleries are closed due to works connected with a planned 2028 reunification with the muséum into a new museum complex.