In the summer of 2002, a building project was begun at the foot of hill called "the Muraz" in the center of Nyon. During excavation of the site, in one corner of the building lot, a section of road from the Roman town was uncovered (with sewers below it). Beside the road, the angle of a thick wall dating from the Roman period was uncovered, thought to be part of a very large structure, perhaps a very large private villa. This coincides with descriptions from the 19th century of mosaics found in the area, but since lost. A fragment of mosaic was found in the present dig. These remains have peen preserved through cooperation between the owners of the new building and archaeological authorities.

The picture at left shows the wall covered with plastic to protect it from the weather. Below,the new building is on the left; the wall fragment is behind it, just below the hedge.

Below left is the ruelle de la Muraz, a small quiet street in the center of Nyon, behind the main business street.

Read about this work in the local newspaper, La Côte, by clicking here:. "Has the wall of a Roman palace been discovered?" (4 July 2002)

Use Babelfish.com to translate a web page from French to English. http://babelfish.altavista.com