Lugdunum (museum)

The museum seen from the Roman theatre

Interior of the museum

Circus Games Mosaic, 2nd century

Lugdunum, formerly known as the Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon-Fourvière, is a museum of Gallo-Roman civilisation in Lyon (Roman Lugdunum). Previously presented at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon and the Antiquarium, the municipal Gallo-Roman collection was transferred to a new building designed by Bernard Zehrfuss and opened in 1975 near the city's Roman theatre and odeon, on a hill known as Fourvière, located in the heart of the Roman city. Internally, it is formed of a concrete spiral ramp descending and branching out into the display rooms. It is managed and operated by the Metropolis of Lyon jointly with the archaeological museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal. As well as displaying its own permanent collections of Roman, Celtic and pre-Roman material (inscriptions, statues, jewellery, everyday objects), a plan-relief of the ancient town and scale models of its major monuments such as the theatre and the Odeon, it also regularly hosts temporary exhibitions.

Circus Mosaic[]

Discovered in the Ainay district in 1806, this mosaic shows a circus during a chariot race, making it one of the few ancient representations of such a race (Lyon itself had a circus, the place of which has not been discovered).

Other Objects[]

• the Gallic Coligny calendar
• fragments of the decoration of the Altar of Rome and Augustus, from the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls
• the Lyon Tablet, a speech by Claudius
• large mosaics such as La mosaïque de Bacchus and the (Swastikas Mosaic).
• the Taurobolic Altar, dedicated in 160 to restore the health of Antoninus Pius
• many large Dionysiac sarcophagi, including the Sarcophagus of the Triumph of Bacchus
• the Lyon-Vaise Hoard of dishes, jewellery and silver statuettes buried during a 3rd-century Germanic invasion

External links[]

• Official website (in English)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Musée gallo-romain de Fourvière.

Coordinates: 45°45′38″N 4°49′12″E / 45.760418°N 4.819914°E / 45.760418; 4.819914