The best museums Hérault

Housed in the Medical Library, this museum is dedicated to the collection of Xavier Atger (1758-1833), a print and drawing enthusiast who donated his collection to the university on his death. With a thousand drawings, five thousand prints from the French, Italian and Flemish schools of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and a few paintings, the visit is worth its weight in gold! Since 2017, 81 drawings by the artist Colette Richarme (1904-1991) have joined the museum, an arrival that establishes an exciting dialogue between modern and classical art.

Located in the current town of Lattes, Lattara, an ancient port of the Western Mediterranean, was a place of economic and cultural exchanges. Discovered in 1963 by Henri Prades and the Groupe Archéologique Painlevé (GAP), the archaeological site, on 10 hectares, is to date a wonderful story of discoveries. An archaeological centre including a municipal museum, research laboratories, a documentation centre and an excavations house have been installed in the old Mas Saint-Sauveur, which belonged to the family of the painter Frédéric Bazille. Adjacent to the archaeological site, the museum, labelled "Musée de France" in 1986, invites you to discover the remains of the old city on nearly 1,000 m². More than 1500 objects bear witness to a commercial activity and daily life of the inhabitants.

On an island, an 18th century military fort houses the Albert-Dubout Museum. The Ballestras Redoubt was dismantled stone by stone and reassembled in the centre of the pond. The museum contains the works of the famous draftsman and his particularly colourful caricatures. Attracted by Palavas as early as 1922, Albert Dubout had the gift of making the comic come out of any thing or situation. In addition to the drawings, the exhibition presents Dubout's personal objects (drawing table, pipe, correspondence with Pagnol and Dard...).