AUTRES SITES DE LUGDUNUM

Baptistery and Vestiges of the Churches of St. Etienne and Ste. Croix (4th - 16th centuries) Archaeological garden, north of St. Jean Cathedral (5th arrondissement). Free entry.
This location was home to two churches which, with the cathedral, were the center of activity for Lyon's religious officials, in the heart of the first communities of Christians. During the 1970s, a portion of their ruins was discovered during a dig and restored, then preserved, in the garden created for this purpose.

The churches of St. Etienne and Ste. Croix were enlarged several times before their destruction during the Revolutions. At the origins of the Church of St. Etienne is the baptistery constructed in the 4th century – one of the oldest in Gaul. The volume of the bowl was progressively reduced in order to adapt to the baptismal liturgy during the early Christian era. At the end of Antiquity, the Roman monuments often served as quarries for the construction of Christian buildings. Blocks of a dismantled monument erected in honor of a Gallic family have been found along the Saône River in the foundations of the 4th century wall.

Roman Baths (2nd-3rd centuries AD) – Rue des Farges. Free access.
Behind the buildings of the Rue des Farges, visitors will discover a group of ruins uncovered during the 1970s. The construction of these buildings was at the origin of one of the first large preemptive archaeological digs in Lyon. After this operation, a portion of the vestiges were restored. In this sector of Fourvière Hill, which was densely occupied during Antiquity, archaeologists uncovered constructions on three graduated terraces. Only the two lower terraces are visible. Above is the façade of a house constructed along a street running north to the Theatre. Below are the imposing foundations of a vast network of public baths, which were located under the present-day Lycée Jean Moulin. The visible portion corresponds to the south façade of the building, marked by the two large apses of the steam rooms.

 

St. Laurent de Choulans: Basilica and Necropolis (late 5th- 6th century AD)
Quai Fulchiron, near the entrance of the Fourvière Tunnel (5th arrondissement). Access by guided visit only (please contact the Gallo-Roman Museum of Fourvière).
Located under a modern building in a loop of the Tunnel access lanes, this ensemble dating to the beginning of the Christian era was excavated in 1947 by Pierre Wuilleumier and celebrated historian André Leroi-Gourhan. The vestiges are visible from several points of view on the site. Only the foundations of the north half of the Church have been preserved, as well as the large number of sarcophagi. These sarcophagi are a spectacular remainder of a funeral practice common during the era, in which the faithful were buried in the underground portion of the cult site.

St. Just: View of the Church of St. Just – Basilica and Necropolis (4th- 8th centuries AD)
Rue des Macchabées (5th arrondissement). Free access.

A Gallo-Roman dwelling, a mausoleum of one of the first bishops of Lyon, and a restored basilica successively occupied this terrace suspended above the Saône River from the 4th to the 13th century. The site was excavated in the 1970s. Today it reveals the partially restored foundations of worship sites. Surrounding it are the preserved sarcophagi found in the basilica's interior.