three famous museums have been renamed
Now is the time for change. During the October 22 city council, elected officials have ruled on new appellations of three Toulouse museums. These are the museums of Augustins, Saint-Raymond and Paul-Dupuy. These new names have, in part, been applied to increase the readability and attractiveness of these cultural establishments.
“Museum of Archeology”
Deemed “dated and too restrictive”, the name of Saint-Raymond museum-Antiques museum became “Toulouse Archeology Museum“. A positioning” clearer and in phase with what it really is “, specifies Pierre Esplugas, deputy mayor, in the deliberation. Over the years, the Saint-Raymond Museum has captured the heart of the network of local archeology players. The establishment is now developing a programming intended to introduce this specialty scientist to the public.
Thus, the name “Museum of Archeology” relates both to the various collections preserved, but especially the promotion of the discipline and its professions as such. “How to add this subtitle, the Saint-Raymond Museum thus joins more clearly the national network of establishments of the same specialty”, specifies the deliberation.
“Museum of Precious Arts Paul-Dupuy”
Until then, the Paul Dupuy museum bore the denomination of “Museum of Decorative and Graphic Arts”, but that time is over. “Seventy years later, it no longer corresponds to the reality of the collections which have been enriched and diversified through the numerous purchases, donations and bequests which have followed one another since the first curator, Robert Mesuret took office”, can we read in the deliberation. Thus, the establishment should soon bear the name of “Museum of Precious Arts Paul-Dupuy“.
“In agreement with the City of Toulouse, the State decided that the vocation of the establishment would be to preserve, in addition to the works brought together by the legatee, the municipal collections of decorative and graphic arts”, indicated Pierre Esplugas. This establishment being labeled “Museum of France“, the name change must be validated by the High Council of Museums of France. DRAC, the latter is now very favorable to the denomination. For good reason, it “seems to him scientifically and culturally relevant in relation to the collections, and which corresponds to a unique positioning in the landscape of museums in France”, reports the deliberation.
“Musée des Augustins-Musée d’art de Toulouse”
As to Augustins museum, labeled “Musée de France”, it will henceforth benefit from the appellation “Augustins Museum-Toulouse Art Museum “. “The previous subtitle only covered part of the essentially medieval collections”, explains Pierre Esplugas, deputy mayor.
The term “fine arts” seems to reduce the proposition, “in the public’s mind, to collections of painting and sculpture from the Renaissance to the beginning of the 20th century,” he adds.