The Permanent Collections
The permanent collections on display are divided across three sections: the Historical Gallery, the Cabinet of Curiosities Gallery and the Fine Arts Gallery.
The Historical Gallery presents the Comtat Venaissin area through archaeological, historic, ethnographic and artistic objects.
The Comtat Venaissin was a small Papal territory from 1274 to 1791 with Carpentras as its capital. The area was heavily influenced by the Italian cultural model imported through the Papal administration.
When he created his public library, d’Inguimbert was mimicking what he had seen during his many years in Italy. During your visit, audiovisual displays will give you a short yet detailed summary of the area’s history.
The Fine Arts Gallery displays pieces acquired after the time of d’Inguimbert. They reflect the art housed in the churches and private residences of the Comtat Venaissin and focus particularly on local artists.
The gallery pays particular tribute to the following key figures: Joseph-Siffred Duplessis (1725-1802), a portrait artist in the court of Louis XVI; Joseph-Xavier Bidauld, a neoclassical landscape artist (1758-1846); Évariste de Valernes (1816-1896), a naturalist painter; Jules Laurens (1825-1901), an eclectic artist known for his orientalist paintings and landscapes of the Comtat Venaissin.
The Cabinet of Curiosities Gallery is the heart of the permanent collections. You will find yourself immersed in a world of books, paintings, antiques and other curiosities from the 18th and 19th centuries. Masterpieces of local written heritage will be displayed in turn, from Mediaeval manuscripts, records of the last great polymath Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, early incunabula prints, rare printed books, books with particularly beautiful bindings, etc. Interactive panels will allow you to digitally leaf through these treasures.
Continue your visit with the multimedia library on the ground floor, where you will find paintings from Provence covering the 19th century to the modern day, as well as ethnographic, archaeological and scientific objects.
