Une archéologie nationale dans le cadre de la Commission de Topographie des Gaules: des approches traditionnelles et une institution structurante pour des objectifs inédits

The works of the Commission de Topographie des Gaules (CTG) try something new in the emerging fields of archaeology and epigraphy thanks, to the launching of the original projects of an extensive epigraphical survey and the creation of an national and archaeological museum. The important epigraphical project of the Commission, which remains not clearly defined, took place in the intellectual movement in the 19th century, which saw the birth of sciences like archaeology and epigraphy and the publication of the first epigraphical corpus. If the inquiry is a legacy from the traditional epigraphical collections, the Commission creates a large network of local intellectuals who send a lot of prints and copies to achieve the original goal: to make the first epigraphical inventory of the national territory and present it to the scientific community through the epigraphical exhibition in the new Musée gallo–romain. Founded by imperial decree of March 8th, 1862 and sheltered in a palace with a high symbolic value, the Musée gallo–romain, today the National Archaeological Museum addresses peculiarities well outside the purview of museums of con- temporary fine arts. The investment of the CTG in the creation of this innovative institution deeply marks the museography, as well as the welcome of the researchers and the general public. Designed as a research centre that aims to make the archaeological archives of France accessible. By analysis of these two case studies, one scientific and the other institutional, this article intends to make a contribution to the understanding of what archaeology is in these practices and institutions during the second half of the 19th century, by way of the collective works rather than individual pieces.