Lugdunum - Musee et theatres romains

Welcome to Lugdunum, the ancient heart of Lyon and once the illustrious capital of Roman Gaul. As you stand here on the slopes of Fourvière Hill, you are stepping back over two thousand years to 43 BC, when the Romans founded…

Just a short walk from the Great Theatre is the Odeon, a smaller and more intimate performance space built in the late 1st or early 2nd century AD. While the Great Theatre was for the masses, the Odeon was designed for elite…

We now enter the Lugdunum Museum, a building that is an architectural masterpiece in its own right. Designed by Bernard Zehrfuss and opened in 1975, the museum is almost entirely subterranean, carved into the side of the…

In the heart of the museum, we come to one of its most historically significant artifacts: the Claudian Tablet, or the 'Table de Claudienne.' This massive bronze plaque records a speech given by Emperor Claudius to the Roman…

As we reach the lower levels of the museum, we encounter one of the largest and most impressive Roman mosaics ever discovered in France: the Circus Games Mosaic. Covering an immense 86 square meters—and some sources say even up…

As we reach the final sections of our tour, we come to a more somber chapter in the history of Lugdunum. While the city was a center of Roman power and pagan worship, it was also the site of early Christian growth and intense…

Our journey through the ancient world of Lugdunum concludes here. From the monumental tiers of the Great Theatre to the intricate million-cube mosaics of the museum, you have explored the physical and cultural foundations of Lyon. …