Théâtres romains de Fourvière et musée Lugdunum

Lyon

This is where Lyon began. In 43 BC, on the orders of the Senate, the governor Munatius Plancus installed on the plateau of Fourvière a colony of Roman citizens, Lugdunum, which became under Augustus the capital of the Three Gauls, the seat of the governor, the mint for imperial coinage and the birthplace of the emperor Claudius, born here on 1 August 10 BC. The theatre, set against the slope, was built probably under Augustus, around 15 BC, which places it among the first in Gaul; enlarged at the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century, it reached one hundred and eight metres in diameter and some ten thousand seats. The odeon, beside it, smaller and roofed, served for music and readings; its floor of coloured marbles is still in place. All this slept under vines and convents when the city undertook, from 25 April 1933, under the direction of Pierre Wuilleumier and then of Amable Audin, to clear the hill; the excavations lasted into the 1940s. The Gallo-Roman museum, dug into the slope in 1975 to the plans of Bernard Zehrfuss, today the Lugdunum museum, keeps the Claudian Table, the bronze found in 1528 at the Croix-Rousse on which is engraved the speech by which Claudius, in 48, opened the Senate to the notables of Gaul, as well as the mosaic of the circus games and the Gaulish calendar of Coligny. The theatre is used every summer for the Nuits de Fourvière, since 1946.

Wikipédia — Théâtre antique de Lyon ↗

Getting there : From Vieux-Lyon, by the Fourvière funicular or the Saint-Just one (Minimes-Théâtres romains stop, to be checked), or on foot by the montée du Gourguillon; by car, rue Cléberg, parking scarce. The theatres are freely accessible every day, except during the Nuits de Fourvière festival, in June and July, which occupies them in the evening. The Lugdunum museum, rue Cléberg, is paid, closed on Mondays (to be checked); its windows open onto the tiers. Allow an hour for the theatres, as much for the museum, and go back down through the Jardins du Rosaire.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound