Mont Lassois et la Dame de Vix

Vix

The mont Lassois is a hill that rises 109 m above the village of Vix, on the upper Seine. It is formed by the mont Saint-Marcel and the mont Roussillon. Towards the end of the 6th century BC, a fortified Iron Age town stood there: a rampart 9 m wide, a main street, about fifteen enclosures and a large apsidal building of 35 m by 22. In December 1952 Maurice Moisson discovered at the foot of the hill a tumulus 38 m in diameter. René Joffroy excavated there the tomb of a woman adorned with a gold torc, lying on a cart, with a bronze krater 1.64 m high from Magna Graecia. The Ministry of Culture dates the tomb to 500 BC give or take a quarter-century; another source retains about 470. Even its sex is discussed. Later, according to a late tradition, Saint Lupus of Troyes took refuge here around 451 from the Huns. The priory of Saint-Marcel was given to the abbey of Molesme in 1111 or 1112, and the height was abandoned in the 14th century; the Romanesque church of the 11th century, listed in 1914, remained. Teams from several countries are still excavating there.

Getting there: The mont is a hill in the commune of Vix, near Châtillon-sur-Seine. One climbs to the church of Saint-Marcel by a narrow, sloping road from Vix; excavations continue and the lower slopes bear vines. The objects from the tomb are in the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais / Trésor de Vix, at Châtillon-sur-Seine (14 rue de la Libération; price not verified, €1.50 in the DRAC brochure, old). Coordinates: Commons category ‘Mont Lassois’; English Wikipedia gives 47.9039 N, 4.5311 E, about 250 m apart.

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

Ambient sound