Would you ever have thought that a Roman woman, with a passion for history and art, could discover the Romans in Lyon?
When Andrea suggested we go and visit the Roman Museum of Lyon, I was very sceptical. I live in Rome, I have visited the Capitoline Museums several times, along with the archaeological park of Ostia Antica, Pompeii and the one at Paestum. The last thing I expected was to learn something new about the Romans in “Gaul”.
And yet the Roman Museum of Lyon turned out to be one of the loveliest discoveries I made in this delightful French city. It genuinely amazed me in a way I could never have imagined.
After all, this is one of the great gifts of travelling: it makes you question what you believe and pushes you beyond your own convictions.
Below I’ll take you to discover Lyon and its wonderful gallo-roman museum, which today is officially called Lugdunum – Musée & Théâtres romains.
Would you like to know a little more too?
Let’s go!
What to see at the Roman Museum of Lyon
Even before you buy your tickets at the entrance, two things will strike you about the Roman Museum of Lyon. The first is the magnificent Roman theatre, perfectly preserved, opening onto the slope of the Fourvière hill. The second is the building that houses the museum, because it is truly… ugly.
Yes, I know that is not a great way to introduce it, but I promise you this museum is as plain on the outside as it is beautifully curated inside!
The building, in raw concrete, is the work of the architect Bernard Zehrfuss, who in the 1970s designed it dug into the hillside, so that it would not steal the show from the Roman ruins beside it. Inside, you go down a single great spiral ramp that leads you, floor by floor, through the finds. I have never found an exhibition so well organised in any Italian museum, and that hurt a little.
The explanations, the way the finds are displayed and the whole layout of the museum do nothing but show the works off at their best.
But it is the finds themselves that left me completely speechless.
Do you want to know why?
The works of the Roman Museum of Lyon are of priceless value because they are so hard to come by: inside you’ll find bronze statues and beautiful glass vessels almost intact, enormous mosaics and much more.
As you can imagine, it is very rare to recover perfectly preserved glass objects, because they are extremely fragile and do not hold up well over the ages. Bronzes, on the other hand, are particularly sturdy, but few survive because they were often melted down to make new works of art or even for military purposes.
This is why the Riace Bronzes are so important.
In short, this museum is a real treasure.
Do you want to know which 5 works of the Roman Museum of Lyon I liked most?
Let me tell you right away!
1 – The Roman theatre and odeon of Lyon
As you approach the museum, you’ll immediately notice the majestic Roman theatre of Lyon, rising on the Fourvière hill right next to the famous basilica of Notre-Dame. Just below it stands a smaller building, the odeon, used for music and poetry.
The theatre was built around 15 BC, under the emperor Augustus, and is one of the oldest in all of Roman Gaul; later enlarged, it came to hold around 10,000 spectators. It is precisely from these two structures that the museum takes its current official name, Lugdunum – Musée & Théâtres romains.
Do you want to know whether you can visit them?
Of course you can!
The theatre and the odeon are open-air and freely accessible, and you can wander among the tiers of seats. It is certainly not like walking into the Colosseum in Rome, but they keep all of their ancient charm intact, and the view over the city from the top of the hill is splendid.
A fun fact: don’t get confused. The amphitheatre of the Three Gauls, the one dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus, is not here, but on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill, on the other side of the city. It was there, by the federal sanctuary of the Three Gauls and its altar of 12 BC, that once a year the representatives of the sixty Gallic nations would gather to discuss and make important decisions.
2 – The mosaics of the Roman Museum of Lyon
We all know that one of the loveliest artistic expressions of the Romans was mosaic. The ancient Romans were true masters of this art, which unfortunately is rather delicate and rarely survives the passing of time.
In Italy we have some beautiful ones, like the one you can see at the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia in Palestrina, inside the Capitoline Museums or at the Archaeological Museum of Naples, but the lovely thing about the mosaics of the Roman Museum of Lyon is above all the way they are displayed.
In what sense?
You’ll discover that the French found a brilliant solution to let you take in the design in all its complexity.
The mosaics lie on the floor, but they can also be viewed from the upper level thanks to large balconies. This way you can admire them both as they appeared to the Romans, at ground level, and from above, to better appreciate the decoration.
A fun fact: the most famous piece is the great circus games mosaic, from the 2nd century, showing a chariot race around the spine of a Roman circus. It is one of the very few ancient images that show us how those races actually took place.
3 – The minor arts
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll have realised by now that I am a great lover of the so-called minor arts. I am fascinated by everything to do with ancient goldwork, tableware, weapons and everyday objects.
Very often these objects tell us about the people of the past, about what they did, how they lived and how they thought, far more than a painting or a great statue can.
The great monuments had wealthy patrons, who often wanted to convey a political message or a very precise idea. Private objects, on the other hand, small and even inexpensive, tell us the true culture of a people.
At the Roman Museum of Lyon you’ll be able to admire a great many household items and accessories of the time, magnificently preserved.
The goldwork is truly astonishing, and far more beautiful than that of our own age: if we consider the limited tools these peoples had 2000 years ago, what they managed to create is truly spectacular.
A fun fact: among these small objects hides one of the museum’s most precious treasures, the Coligny calendar. It is a large bronze tablet, recovered in fragments, bearing a Gallic calendar in the Celtic language: one of the most important documents we have on the culture of the Gauls before romanisation.
4 – The bronzes of Lyon
If you know the story I told about the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius, you’ll certainly know that very few bronze sculptures have come down to us.
Bronze was a precious material at the time and, especially during the Middle Ages, it was melted down and reused to make new works of art or to manufacture weapons.
This is why the statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome is so important, as are the famous Riace Bronzes.
And in Lyon?
Imagine my astonishment when I found myself admiring bronze statues and objects of rare beauty and superb preservation at the Roman Museum of Lyon, like the great Neptune or the delicate silver cup decorated with Gallic deities.
It is just a shame that they are still so little known: they would deserve the fame of their Italian cousins.
5 – Roman culture in Lyon
One of the main features of the Roman conquests, and of the empire in general, was that the subjugated peoples were never forced to accept Roman culture as their own.
The Romans were in fact very shrewd in this respect and, instead of imposing their own religion and customs, they completely absorbed the deities, habits and traditions of the conquered people. The aim was to make them their own and to ease the integration between themselves and the conquered.
Why did they do it?
Imagine having to keep control over a vast empire, made up of thousands of ethnic groups, tribes and faction leaders who not only spoke different languages but were culturally worlds apart. If the Romans had imposed their customs, they would certainly have caused far more resentment, and keeping the peace would have been nothing but a utopia.
By guaranteeing the defeated peoples the safeguarding of their culture, it was far easier to win their loyalty and prevent new revolts from breaking out. In this field too, the Romans proved extremely pragmatic and very undogmatic.
Well, at the Roman Museum of Lyon this comes through very clearly. You’ll find a great many votive statuettes of the Gallic pantheon, worshipped alongside the Greco-Roman gods.
A fun fact: the piece that moved me most is the Claudian Tables, a large bronze plaque bearing the speech with which the emperor Claudius, born in Lugdunum itself, persuaded the Senate to admit the notables of Gaul among the senators of Rome. It is proof, engraved in metal, of how much the Romans knew how to make room for other peoples. I found it a beautiful example of integration: we still have a lot to learn from our ancestors about tolerance.
Practical information
Haven’t I convinced you yet to visit the Roman Museum of Lyon?
Then let me tell you that the ticket costs very little: 4 euros for the collections alone (7 euros when there is also a temporary exhibition), with reduced rates of 2.50 or 4.50 euros. Admission is free for under-18s and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month.
The museum stands at 17 rue Cléberg, at the top of the Fourvière hill, right next to the basilica. The easiest way to get there is to take the funicular from Vieux-Lyon (metro line D) up to the Roman theatres stop or to Fourvière: from there the museum is just a short walk away.
The museum’s opening hours are:
- Tuesday to Friday, from 11 to 18;
- Saturday and Sunday, from 10 to 18 (closed on Monday).
The theatre and the odeon, on the other hand, are freely accessible every day, with hours that vary by season: from 7 to 21 between 15 April and 15 September, and from 7 to 19 between 16 September and 14 April.
A tip if you’re staying a few days in Lyon: the Lyon City Card includes entry to dozens of the city’s museums plus unlimited public transport: if you’re planning several visits, it soon pays for itself. And if you love art, don’t miss the city’s other great museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon; to plan the rest of your stay, I’ll be waiting for you in my guide on what to do in Lyon.
