Saturday 7 February 2015

Roman Around Tours

You wouldn't know to look at it now, but under the very ordinary 1990s plaza in front of Tours Cathedral are some amazing Roman bits.

Why they have been reburied I don't know - although I guess it has to do with preservation. Why they had to be reburied under something quite so anodyne is a complete mystery.

If you want to go looking, there are some Gallo-Roman excavations still visible in Tours near Place Plumereau. In addition, the ampitheatre and roman walls are still more or less visible on the ground, and a number of very early christian churches still contain roman elements. Wikipedia is extremely good for details, even if finding the entries is a bit hit and miss.

The one I am waiting for are the pilings of the Roman bridge across the Loire which are still visible when the water is low. Roll on a dry summer.

The top photo is one I found online ages ago of the excavations in 1996. If it is your photo, please contact us so I can properly attribute it.

1 comment:

Betty Carlson said...

Thanks once again for triggering memories. We left the Tours area in 1995...it seems like the excavations were at least going to start by then, and I think I saw the site as you show it in a visit around 1996.

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