GALLO-ROMAN MUSEUM

More than just a museum that takes you back in time to Gallo-Roman times, this is one of the few French site museums to offer a unique experience as you stroll through one of the richest cities in Roman Gaul from the ^1st to the ^4th century. Opposite Vienne, on this major traffic artery where goods have passed through since Antiquity (and today visitors from France and all over Europe), rich "domus" were discovered by archaeologists in 1967 during the construction of a high school. Houses were uncovered, along with an entire urban landscape of public baths, warehouses, workshops and paved roads, whose organization and concern for comfort are astonishingly modern today. Acquired by the Rhône department, the site was classified as a Historic Monument in 1983. To showcase this monumental site, a museum was built on stilts above a Roman villa. In 1996, the museum opened its doors to the general public on an exceptional site of over 4 hectares, where visitors can retrace history through the remains of a residential and commercial district from the ^1st and ^4th centuries. In a contemporary building, transparent from all sides, visitors can both look out onto the site and admire an exceptional collection of Gallo-Roman mosaics and paintings inside, sharing in the true "art of living" in this residential district of one of the richest cities in Roman Gaul, Vienna. In all, the museum and its storerooms contain some 4,000 remarkable objects, of which around 1,200 are on display in the permanent exhibition area: mosaics, wall paintings, statues, ceramics, bone, glass and metal objects. The museum buildings also house the Atelier de restauration de mosaïques et d'enduits peints (mosaic and painted plaster restoration workshop), which was set up in 1981 and has since established a national and even international reputation in this specific field. It is sometimes open on Heritage Days. Numerous events take place at the Musée Gallo-Romain, including the Journées Gallo-Romaines in June. Among the tours offered by the museum, storytelling tours provide an unusual way of discovering the collections and archaeological remains. Temporary exhibitions linking past and present, ancient and contemporary society. The L'Emporium boutique offers objects and gifts for all ages. A unique museum that opens the doors of time. Ambitious modernization work will be carried out until 2030.