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Come with us on a walking tour of Nyon...
4. Esplanade des Marroniers
The Roman columns
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The
Archaeology Walk
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More
places to visit
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| Although they did not stand in this location in Roman times, these columns have now become a part of the Nyon landscape. Just as other parts of the forum were re-used centuries ago in other buildings, so too these columns and cornice have been placed in another context, in another time. |  |
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The text in English reads: The Roman columns. It was about 45 BC when the Romans created Colonia Iulia Equestris on the shores of Lake Geneva, between the Gex region, the Jura and the Aubonne. Noviodunum, the urban center of this territory, was built on the very site of the present town of Nyon. The columns and the cornice that surmounts them were reassembled on the Esplanade des Marroniers in 1958, when Nyon celebrated its 2000th anniversary. Originally, they belonged to the partly raised porticos in the sacred area of the forum situated in the town center. The ornamentation, dating from the middle of the first century AD, reveals artistic influences from southern Gaul. The drawing shows a reconstruction of the crypto-portico A and the portico B of the sacred area, with the columns and cornice in their original positions C. This sign is the unfortunate victim of graffitti. |
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The view from the place des Marroniers looks out over the lake. Land which has not been built on in recent times always leads one to wonder what might be buried there... |
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| Place des Marroniers on a winter morning. | |
| Click here to go to the Nyon Roman Museum's page about these columns | |
This page was updated on 31 March, 2004 by K. Epps
Unless
otherwise mentioned, all photos are by Katharine Epps.
Sauf mention contraire les photos sont de Katharine Epps
nyon@isg-online.org