The villa of Chiragan (Martres-Tolosane) and its marbles: an update on research and issues surrounding an extraordinary collection

Thurday, November 20, 2025, 11am, CEMES (coffee served by 10.30am)

Conference room + Zoom

by Pascal Capus, in charge of the collections of Roman and classical Mediterranean sculptures and coins, Saint-Raymond Museum, Toulouse Archaeology Museum

Nearly 500 marble sculptures and fragments, unearthed in this impressive Roman villa, are preserved at the Saint-Raymond Museum. This spectacular collection includes dozens of portraits, statuettes, known as idealised figures, as well as hundreds of architectural fragments and veneers. Together, they form the largest collection of marble ever discovered at a single ancient site.

Many questions remain as to how such a wide variety of themes and formats came to be found in a single residence. However, new scientific collaborations and a better understanding of marble, enriched by recent advances in archaeology, are paving the way for new hypotheses.