Autun

Augustodunum was founded under Augustus and built large: the Roman theatre held around twenty thousand people, making it one of the biggest in Gaul, and two monumental gates, the Porte d'Arroux and the Porte Saint-Andre, still stand with their arcaded upper galleries. The cathedral of Saint-Lazare, built in the twelfth century, carries a tympanum of the Last Judgement by Gislebertus, who carved his name beneath Christ's feet, an early instance of a medieval sculptor signing work. Its elongated, unsettling figures were plastered over in the eighteenth century, which preserved them. The Eve of Autun, a reclining nude from the same workshop, is in the town museum.

History

Augustodunum was founded under Augustus as the capital of the Aedui, allies of Rome, replacing their hill town of Bibracte some 25 km away, and its walls, gates and theatre still stand in part. In 356 the Emperor Julian saved it from a siege by the Alemanni, and in late antiquity it was known for its schools of rhetoric, where a famous large world map based on Ptolemy's Geography was displayed. In 880 Count Richard of Autun became the first Duke of Burgundy, and in 1506 the lawyer Barthélemy de Chasseneuz made his name defending the rats of Autun against a charge of eating the barley. Talleyrand became bishop of Autun in 1788, Napoleon's brothers Joseph and Lucien studied at the school now called the Lycée Bonaparte, and in 1837 commercial mining of oil shale near the town began the modern oil-shale industry; the uranium mineral autunite, first found nearby in 1852, is named after it (Wikipedia, Autun).

The main sights

• The Gislebertus tympanum - a signed Romanesque Last Judgement over the door.
• The Roman gates - Porte d'Arroux and Porte Saint-Andre with upper arcades.
• The Roman theatre - a large open bowl still used for events.
• The Eve of Autun - a famous carved nude in the Musee Rolin.

When to go

April to October; the cathedral is open year-round. Summer evenings host a Gallo-Roman spectacle in the theatre. The Morvan hills around are good in autumn.

Good to know

The Roman remains are fragments scattered through a working town rather than a site. The museum has had long closure and renovation periods. The tympanum is best seen with binoculars for the detail.

Nearby

The Morvan park lies north; Beaune is east.

Key facts