Apollo brings the small Gallic village of Juliobona out of oblivion

2023-05-04 12:00:01

Exhibition “Who are you, Apollo? “, at the Juliobona museum, in Lillebonne (Seine-Maritime). ERIC SANSON

In 1823, with a lucky pickaxe, workers from Lillebonne (Seine-Maritime), at the mouth of the Seine, unearthed a statue of Apollo. 1.94 meters high, in bronze, covered with gold leaf, it is the largest of its type discovered in Gaul. Purchased by the Louvre, it took its way to Paris in 1853, without ever returning to Normandy. However, Apollon is today the best ambassador of this town once known as Juliobona.

To celebrate the bicentenary of this discovery, the city museum is devoting an exhibition to it, “Who are you, Apollo? “. He certainly presents us with the god of the Sun, the oracular who sees clearly and far, the lyre-playing artist and patron of the muses, the guarantor of harmony, without evading his dark side, because he is also the vengeful god and jealous, who slaughters the Niobids and flays alive the silenus Marsyas.

The most popular of the gods of Olympus, he still inspires artists today, which is why the exhibition brings together, in addition to archaeological pieces, works from all centuries, including contemporary ones. If his statue is absent for insurance reasons, the visitor can see it in digital form, in scale 1, from all angles.

An ambitious research project

The ancient city of Calètes, the Gallic people who occupied the region, was one of the most important agglomerations north of the Loire, from the I^is period III^e century of our era, before being supplanted by Rotomagus (Rouen). Of its prestigious past, all that remains visible is its large theater that can accommodate 9,000 spectators, classified as a historical monument since 1840. There are many other constructions (forum, thermal baths, domus, etc.) of which only the foundations remain, still buried underground.

An ambitious collective research project (PCR), bringing together some fifty French and foreign researchers, aims to bring new elements to understand the history of this city, from its birth, in the Augustan period, until its administrative disappearance. , at the end of III^e century, for the benefit of Rotomagus. This project will also associate the inhabitants with mediation actions in partnership with the Louvre.

Conferences are planned every two years. The next one, in the fall, will be entitled “Crisis and urban resilience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages”. An urban scenography route will invite you to discover nine emblematic places or monuments, including the port, the location of which is still being sought. The current museum (150 square meters) will be partially preserved but considerably enlarged, with 500 square meters for permanent exhibitions, 200 square meters for temporary ones, while no space exists today to accommodate them, which has forced to move all the collections presented to make room for Apollo. A conservation and research center (1,000 square meters) will open its doors to professionals and the public. Its opening is planned for 2028. This PCR is programmed over thirty years, in order to allow scientists to study, analyze and understand the results of the excavations which will be undertaken according to a timetable determined on an ad hoc basis depending on the discoveries.

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