Issuu

ROMAN Ave

d nar

Ber

ntSai

ran

d nue

ntrale

Place ce

STADE

4 6

Rue d’Octodure

Rue du Forum

FONDATION PIERRE GIANADDA

CERM / EXPO

P Rue du Levant

MARTIGNY

BARRYLAND

A B I T O F H I S TO RY Martigny went down in history in autumn 57 BC during the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. In his book “The Gallic War” the Roman general defends his attack on Octodurus, a Gallic village located on the route to the Great St Bernard pass, and advancing dangerous roads and high customs duties imposed on merchants. The truth of the matter is that Caesar wanted to control one of the most direct communication routes between Italy and Gaul. Caesar’s narrative relates the events that confronted a Roman legion to the Veragri, the inhabitants of Octodurus, which were aided by the Seduni from central Valais. The Roman troops won the battle and set fire to Octodurus. However, as they had been weakened, they decided to retire and set up their winter camp in a safe place. After their retreat the Gallic village was most probably reconstructed. A short time later, between 50 and 15 BC, the Valais region was incorporated into the Roman Empire under circumstances about which little is known.

A discovery tour of the monuments of Roman Martigny (Forum Claudii Vallensium) During his conquest of Great Britain emperor Claudius (41-54 BC) ordered the creation of a new city at the foot of the Great St Bernard pass, at some distance from Octodurus. The precise location of this city remains still unknown. This city was named Forum Claudii Vallensium – Claudius’s market town of the Valaisians – and became the capital of Vallis Poenina, a territory corresponding approximately to the present-day Valais and Chablais Vaudois regions. Together with the province of Tarentaise, located on the other side of the Alps, the Vallis Poenina province was ruled by an imperial governor who had one of his residences in Martigny. As the seat of the imperial and municipal administration, the city was a staging post and an important market place on the route to the pass. It flourished up to the 4th century AD and was then progressively abandoned between 350 and 400 for several reasons : economic downturn, lack of safety of the routes, danger of “Barbarian” invasions. The centre of religious, political and economic activity was then displaced around an initial Christian ecclesiastical building which stood at the site of the present-day parish church. This sanctuary was rapidly transformed into a church of which the first known bishop was Saint Theodore of Octodurus mentioned in 381. The see was transferred to Sion prior to 585, which occupied a more central position and was more easily defensible. Martigny on the other hand owed its function as the capital of Roman Valais to the international route crossing the Great St Bernard pass ; the city remained an open settlement without fortifications during the greater part of its existence.

A guided visit of the subsoil of the present-day parish church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs provides an opportunity to see the archaeological remains in an especially adapted crypt. The most ancient building discovered in this place can be dated to the Roman period (1st century AD). Its precise function remains unknown but the remains provided evidence of successive reconstructions between the 2nd and 4th century AD notably the addition of heated rooms that guaranteed some welcome comfort for that time.

The Early Christian church and its baptistery

The first Christian ecclesiastical building that can be identified as such appears during the second half of the 4th century AD : an apse added to the pre-existing building forms its choir. Prior to the end of the 4th century the building was equipped with its first baptismal font and a large quadrangular annex that may correspond to a porchway (narthex). The complex is interpreted as being the earliest church in Valais ! Except for the baptistery this building was totally destroyed by a fire between the 5th and the first half of the 6th century AD. It was replaced by a double church that was modified several times up to the 8th - 9 th century. During the three following centuries only one half of this double church has survived. It underwent numerous modifications including the addition of a first campanile. The construction work for a new church started during the second half of the 12 th century but this was rapidly interrupted for an unknown reason. Only an irregular two-bay building was constructed that preserved the main apse of the preceding one. During the 13 th century a new choir as well as a rood screen (jube) were added. The building underwent further modifications up to 1670 when the construction of the present-day three-naved baroque basilica started.

The ecclesiastical building during excavation © Bureau Hans-Jörg Lehner, Sion

The subsoil of present-day Martigny contains abundant remains which are regularly uncovered during construction work. This was the case in 1975 when the public baths were discovered in the area where the construction of a new fire station was planned. Given the importance of the discovery the municipality abandoned its project and the ground was acquired by the Swiss Confederation as well as the adjacent former stadium under which is located the forum of the Roman city. The density of the remains in this sector of the town justified the creation of an archaeological walking trail. The thermae, the Roman baths, are the main highlight : a large hypocaust – a sophisticated soil heating system – a heating room as well as latrines can be seen. The bathing complex was in parts covered by the modern ice rink where the caldarium, a hot bath the substructures of which are especially well preserved, was located.

Reconstruction of the latrines of the public baths © OCA / G. Vionnet

In the heart of the Roman city : an archaeological walking trail

Further remains were discovered nearby : a 15-m-wide Roman street (rue de la Basilique), under which runs a vaulted sewer tunnel. Alongside the street were private houses, shops or residences and more particularly a domus, an urban residence, of which several pieces are currently visible. This latter continues under the ice rink and it is possible to visit its cellar accompanied by a guide. The archaeological walking trail takes the visitor into the very heart of the city and offers a perfect illustration of a Roman city quarter with its shops, houses, public spaces etc. In its vicinity the remains of an imposing domus called Domus Minerva, the residence of a distinguished person of the city, were preserved under the modern building “Villa Minerva” and these remains are accessible to the public during guided visits. The basin of the caldarium, the hot bath of the thermae © OCA

The domus of the ‘household genius’ (Domus du Génie domestique) owes its name to a bronze statuette discovered in 1993 which represents the protective divinity of the paterfamilias of the household. The building shows all the components of a luxurious residence and encompasses an area of over 600 m2. This domus was built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD in a privileged situation in the central part of the city across from the forum.

Reconstruction of the domus of the ‘household genius’ (Domus du Génie domestique)

The components of the domus and their arrangement are characteristic of Roman houses. The rooms were distributed on either side of a pleasure garden surrounded by rows of columns (peristyle), a central area of Roman private architecture. Next to the entry were located the private baths with a service room, the furnace, a changing room, the bathing basin as well as the warm room and the cold room. One of the rooms opened directly on the street and did not communicate with the remainder of the house : this was certainly a shop, let to a craftsman or a merchant.

The residence of an important person : the domus of the ‘household genius’ In the rear part of the pleasure garden was located the dining room (triclinium), which opened up on a peristyle through large windows. Here were also located the private rooms : a room, a kitchen, latrines as well as a small corridor leading to the orchard and the vegetable garden. These peristyle houses have so far been identified only in the “wealthier” quarters of the city, adjacent to the forum.

Bronze statuette representing a household genius

The volumetric reconstruction of the domus suggests an upper floor the existence of which, however, cannot be certified.

1 Early Christian church Temple Domus Minerva INSULA 11

INSULA 15

INSULA 12

INSULA 13

INSULA 16

INSULA 14

Basilica

INSULA 1

Mithraeum

Baths INSULA 2

6 Indigenous sanctuary

Temple

Baths

Temple INSULA 6

INSULA 7

Temple INSULA 17

FORUM

INSULA 5

INSULA 4

Domus of the ‘household genius’ INSULA 10

Temenos Baths

Amphitheater

INSULA 18

INSULA 9

INSULA 8