Roman Theatre of Fourvière
Roman Theatre of Fourvière features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Lyon. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type ruins
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Lyon Lyon guide
About Roman Theatre of Fourvière
A 2,000-year-old Roman theatre carved into the Fourvière hillside, hosting the famous summer Nuits de Fourvière festival beneath the city's two-thousand-year-old stones.
The Roman Theatre of Fourvière and the adjacent Odeon are the remains of the ancient Roman city of Lugdunum, founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus and later capital of the three Gauls. The great theatre, built under Augustus and enlarged under Hadrian, originally held 10,000 spectators and is one of the best-preserved Roman theatres in France. Its semicircular stone cavea is carved directly into the Fourvière hillside, with the stage area at the bottom and the tiered seating rising above. The smaller Odeon beside it was used for musical performances and lectures. Both are now part of the Musée Gallo-Romain de Lyon–Fourvière archaeological museum, which is embedded into the hillside nearby and contains extraordinary finds from Roman Lyon including the famous bronze tablets of Claudius and the mosaic of the Bacchic procession. Every summer, the ancient theatre becomes the stage for the Nuits de Fourvière festival, one of France's most celebrated performing arts events, with concerts, theatre, and dance performances under the open sky in a setting that has been used for spectacle for 2,000 years.
Did you know? Lyon's Roman theatre is one of the oldest in France, predating the more famous Orange theatre in Provence, and its Nuits de Fourvière festival attracts over 100,000 spectators every summer.
How long is a visit to Roman Theatre of Fourvière?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for Roman Theatre of Fourvière. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Roman Theatre of Fourvière worth your time?
Roman Theatre of Fourvière is among the 25 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Lyon, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Lyon
Hear the story of Roman Theatre of Fourvière
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