Porte d’Arroux: A Roman Gateway of Augustodunum in Autun, France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Roman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Gate
On this page11 sections
History
Porte d’Arroux is a Roman city gate in Autun, France, built by the Romans under Augustus as part of Augustodunum’s first-century AD enceinte, or defensive circuit. Augustodunum was established as a new capital for the Aedui, a Gallic people who had allied with Rome and were later incorporated into the Roman imperial system. The gate probably dates from the first half of the first century AD, although its exact position within Augustus’s reign remains uncertain.
The northern entrance to Augustodunum
Known also as Porte de Sens, Porte d’Arroux stood on the northwestern side of Augustodunum’s roughly diamond-shaped circuit. It controlled the northern road toward Autessiodurum, the Roman predecessor of Auxerre, and occupied a conspicuous position along the Via Agrippa. This major Roman road crossed the city from south to north as its principal north-south street. It entered through Porte de Rome from Cabillonum, passed through Augustodunum, and left by Porte d’Arroux. Soon after crossing the Arroux River, a western branch continued toward Avaricum.
The gate formed part of an enceinte that extended for approximately 6 kilometres. Four principal entrances stood at roughly the cardinal points: Porte d’Arroux to the north, Porte Saint-André to the east, Porte de Rome to the south, and Porte Saint-Andoche to the west. Porte d’Arroux and Porte Saint-André remain relatively well preserved, while Porte Saint-Andoche survives in ruins and Porte de Rome has disappeared.
Defence, movement, and later change
Porte d’Arroux regulated movement into the city through closing mechanisms, flanking towers, and an elevated gallery. Its internal arrangement also allowed tolls to be collected on goods passing through the entrance. Because the gate opened during the Pax Romana, the long period of relative political stability associated with Roman imperial rule, toll collection may have been its principal practical function, although this interpretation remains qualified. Its monumental form and position along the road also presented the power and wealth of Augustodunum to travellers approaching after crossing the Arroux.
Probably during the Middle Ages, the Roman gateway was converted into the Notre-Dame d’Arroux chapel. In the process, its flanking towers, the inner building that enclosed the central court, and much of the upper gallery disappeared. Archaeological and architectural studies carried out in the early 2010s established that an additional building had stood on the city side. This revised an interpretation proposed by Paul-Marie Duval in 1954 and clarified that the gate belonged to a double-gate arrangement with an inner court serving as a controlled passage or toll area. The remains were classified as historic monuments in 1846.
Remains
The surviving gateway
Passageways and closures
The surviving gate is approximately 18.55 metres wide, 16 metres high, and 4.25 metres thick. Four round-headed passages open through the structure. The two broad central openings were intended for vehicles such as carts and horses, while the narrower outer passages served pedestrians and continued the lines of the sidewalks. Portcullises, vertically lowered gates guided by grooves in the masonry, closed the central passages. Their stone guide grooves remain visible, while the side passages were secured by wooden doors.
Upper gallery
Above the entrances, a first-floor gallery of ten arches carried the wall-walk across the gate. A wall-walk was a passage along the top of a defensive wall. The gallery was originally roofed and housed the mechanism that operated the portcullises. Its ten openings were framed by Corinthian columns, classical columns with capitals decorated with acanthus-leaf motifs. Only part of this arcade survives, although the exterior decoration is better preserved than much of the rest of the structure.
Flanking towers
Two monumental towers, each approximately 10 metres wide, formerly stood on either side of the entrance as lookout points. Their outer faces were semicircular or apsidal, meaning they ended in rounded forms, while their inner faces were flat. This arrangement was comparable to that at Porte Saint-André. Both towers have disappeared, although a nineteenth-century plan by Jean Roidot-Déléage preserves an indication of part of one of them.
Inner entrance and construction materials
Double-gate arrangement
The gate and a second building on the city side created a double entrance. A central courtyard or controlled passage lay between the two parts of the complex. Two walls ran along the road and connected the inner building with the wider defensive system, but they disappeared at an early date. The surviving gateway therefore represents only part of an arrangement that once controlled access through successive entrances.
Stonework
Three principal kinds of stone were used in the gate. Feldspathic sandstone formed the bases of the jambs and came from deposits about 10 kilometres east of Autun. The facing used easily worked oolitic limestone from the Chalonnais area, including the white quarries at Saint-Hilaire in Fontaines, more than 30 kilometres east of Autun. Granite and gneiss from local quarries formed the masonry core and were also used extensively in the curtain wall, the main connecting wall between fortifications, on either side of the entrance.
