Saturday, 31 December 2016

Les Arenes de Lutece - Amongst the last vestiges of Roman Paris in 5eme

This is a Roman amphitheatre in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, also known as the Latin quarter. The 5th arrondissement is the only district left where the remains of Roman Paris can be seen.

The arena's  name comes from Lutetia, the Roman name for Paris.

The amphitheatre (which lies on the Rue Monge) was actually discovered in more recent times during the building of the Rue Monge, a road running roughly North-South starting at Rue Lagrange and crossing the Rue des Ecoles.

The author Victor Hugo (who wrote Les Miserables in 1862)  was one of the intellectuals pushing for the preservation of the arena.

Another notable relic from Roman times is the baths of Cluny (Thermes de Cluny) partly absorbed into the Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages, which houses a very important tapestry collection.

No comments:

Post a Comment