Musée d’Aquitaine (The Aquitaine Museum) is a museum of archaeology and history in Bordeaux, France.

Musée d’Aquitaine history

Chronicling the history of Bordeaux and Aquitaine since prehistoric times, Musée d’Aquitaine has collections ranging from Gallo-Roman and ethnographic to the Middle Ages.

The Museum of Aquitaine in its current form was officially created in 1963 by museologist Georges-Henri Rivière, who was tasked with reorganising France’s museums of history, archaeology and ethnology after the war.

Musée d’Aquitaine today

Today, the museum boasts over 1.3 million pieces, illustrating the history of Bordeaux and the local region from prehistory to the twentieth century. Prestigious collections of regional and extra-European archaeology, history and ethnography retrace the lives of the Aquitaine people and their relationship with the rest of the world.

Ship owners, sailors, missionaries, explorers and doctors all brought back objects from Africa, Oceania and the Americas to Bordeaux: the museum’s extra-European collection comprises 5000 different pieces.

Known as the “Museum of civilization”, it presents each year temporary exhibitions exploring themes on the history and cultures of the world. It offers the public a cultural program: series of conferences, screenings, round tables, guided tours, concerts, meetings with foreign communities, educational workshops.

Getting to Musée d’Aquitaine

Musée d’Aquitaine lies right in the centre of Downtown Bordeaux on the west side of the River Garonne.

There are multiple ways of travelling to the site, including by bus (24, 25) and tram (Line B – stop Musée d’Aquitaine). If travelling by car, there are several parking bays nearby.