Sunday, January 16, 2011

Video Impressions of the Lot : Figeac



Figeac is a lovely small city (10 000 inhabitants) in the extreme East of the department on the borders with the Aveyron and Cantal department.




It is world-famous for its Champollion museum, the museum dedicated to Jean-François Champollion, the decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, esp. the Rosetta Stone, and born here in Figeac.

The museum has several theme-based exhibitions, all around the art of writing, from its very beginnings some five thousand years ago. The exhibitions, called "Scripts of the World", look back at the great diversity of writing, from the four founding scripts – cuneiforms, hieroglyphics, Chinese characters and Maya glyphs – to the writing systems of the present day.

On the "Place des écritures" a giant reproduction of the Rosetta stone can be admired.