The former Touraine lapidary museum

Lapidary collection presented in the galleries

Discover the history of Tours' former lapidary museum, housed for many years in the galleries of the Psalette cloister.

A historic museum

Cathedral fragments

The west gallery of the Psalette cloister is now home to some 50 items from the various restoration campaigns carried out on Saint-Gatien Cathedral in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Part of the cathedral's lapidary collection is on display here.

In 1911, sculptor Georges Delpérier founded the Musée Lapidaire de Touraine in the cloister of the Psalette. He became its curator. The museum was opened to the public and guided tours were offered until 1947.

In the west gallery, along the wall, long shelves were arranged almost the full height to accommodate original stone fragments. Upstairs, two rooms housed sculpture casts.

Lapidary deposit in the west gallery
Ministère de la Culture (France),Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, diffusion. MN-GP

The lapidary repository leaves the cloister

In 1947, work began on the cloister and the lapidary depository was moved a few meters away to rooms in the cathedral towers. Many fragments and plaster casts are still housed there today.