Study and evaluation of mounting solutions for the statue of the Emperor at the Alba Museum (MuséAl)

By Poinsot A., Cherblanc F., Bromblet Ph., Bagnéris M. and Mercurio V.

25 June 2015 at 1.30 p.m.

The Alba Museum’s (MuséAl) collection includes a monumental truncated male statue in white marble, discovered in 1992 in the cella of the axial temple of the Bagnols sanctuary. Dated to the end of the 1st century/beginning of the 2nd century AD, it certainly represents a heroised emperor. It will become the centrepiece of the museum collection.

However, the base of this fractured statue means that complex technical and aesthetic constraints must be taken into account. An in-depth and multidisciplinary study (conservator, conservator/restorer, archaeologist, historian, scientists from the CICRP and MAP/Gamsau) has thus been launched under the aegis of Aude Poinsot, director of the museum, integrating a detailed condition report, the critical review of the existing mounting solutions, of measurement of the speed of sound coupled with 3D modeling by photogrammetry and mechanical behaviour simulations.

Several mounting scenarios have been tested using models.

The whole study will be presented in the course of the discussion.