Visiting Sites

Lapidary museum

A garden of ruins
On the site of a medieval hospital

This small romantic museum, whose origins date back to the 19th century, stands on the site of the former Saint-Nicolas-Saint-Eloi hospital. Today, only Romanesque chapel, listed as a historic monument,remains. In 1861, the town of Autun and the Société Éduenne decided to transform it into a museum to house the sculptural and architectural elements of its collections. The garden is built around a small cloister, and is decorated with columns, capitals and tombstones.

Garden of the Lapidary Museum, © Ville d’Autun
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Garden of the Lapidary Museum, © Ville d’Autun

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Interior view of the Saint-Nicolas chapel, © Ville d’Autun

From Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Sculptures, capitals and tobmstones

This museum garden has kept its original function and you can discover some of the most beautiful pieces from the city's lapidary collections, presented in a romantic setting characteristic of 19th century presentation. The chapel houses a very fine set of Gallo-Roman capitals, while the cloister and the garden host various ancient and medieval sculptures, including a remarkable series of Gallo-Roman tombstones.