Tag: Gallia Lugdensis

Gallo Roman Museum of Lyon

On By Paul Coby and Sally BlandfordIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Overall Rating      ****    4 stars – stunning unique exhibits

Display                   *****  5 – thematic, amazing building, bilingual

Access                     ***      3 – easy parking, buses from central Lyon

Other                       Wow Factor!

This is one of the best Provincial Museums you can find in the Empire.  Some of the objects took our breath away.

It brings together Roman finds from the Midi of France on the now familiar thematic basis, but when opened in 1975 ground breaking.  The building is brilliantly designed by Bernard Zehrfuss to fit into the hill alongside the Fouvière Theatres, and opened by President Giscard d’Estaing.

Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was founded in 43 BCE by Lucius Munatius Plancus, it was the capital of Gallia Lugdunensis, the seat of the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls and the second most important city in the West – after Rome, with its own urban cohort and a population estimated at 50-100,000.  Both Claudius and Caracalla were born there.

You enter the Museum from the top and walk down a winding path, starting with inscriptions, moving through temples, domestic houses, trade and so forth.  There are some of the best exhibits you could find ranging from

  • a stunning ceremonial bronze age cart from 6th BCE,
  • fragments of the Altar to Augustus and Rome from the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls
  • the longest written inscription in Gallic – the Coligny Calendar (!),
  • Claudius’ speech on a large bronze tablet in AD 48 before the Roman Senate granting Gauls entry to the Senate,
  • silver statuettes buried during the 2nd CE Germanic invasions and
  • top rate mosaics like the Bacchus Mosiac from Lugdunum (Lyon) and the surrounding cities.

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These are just a few of the treasures.  There are numerous excellent models of temple precincts, city insulae, how the scene-lifting gear worked at the theatre and so forth.  There is a relief model of the surrounding area at the start, which by use of light projections orientates the visitor on when Lugdunum was founded by and then developed over the next 4 centuries.

There are bilingual French and English labels which is helpful and a well produced souvenir guide.

If we had to find a criticism it would be there is not enough on the later history and decline of Roman Lugdunum.  The overall impression is of the immense material wealth and artistic culture of the Capital of the Three Gauls.  Not to be missed!

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Theatres of Fouvière at Lyon

On By Paul Coby and Sally BlandfordIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Overall Rating       ****   4 stars – major monument in a dramatic situation

Display                    ***     3 – models and details in the adjoining Museum

Access                      ***     3 – easy to park or get there by Lyon city bus

Other                        The view!

This is definitely one to travel to see – as we did for the weekend.  Unearthed in the 30s, the Roman Theatre – the first in Gaul, is dramatically built into the hillside above the renaissance city of Lyon.  It was originally built c15 BCE, and was the Theatre of Lugdunum, the capital of the Three Gauls (Lugdunensis, Belgica and Narbonensis) where the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls was situated.  It was extended at the start of 2nd Century CE.

It is large semi-circle 108m in diameter and could seat 10,000 people. Although it is without the scaena (classical backdrop to the stage), you can get an excellent impression of what a classical theatre felt like.  You can clearly hear what visitors are saying on the stage from the upper tiers!

Next to it is an Odeon, a smaller theatre, which it is thought would be used for music and poetry recitals.  Both theatres are used for modern performances.

Although a breath-taking position with views over Lyon and around, if there is a criticism it is the lack of explanation at the site.