Ancient Theatre of Fourvière France

Legendary

This well preserved Roman theatre was built during the reign of Emperor Augustus.

Photo by Andrew Smith

Two Roman emperors were born in Lyon. Claudius, who later led the conquest of Britain, and Caracalla, who gave Roman citizenship to millions of people across the empire, both grew up as kids in a city called Lugdunum.

That city is now Lyon, France, and it was one of the most powerful places in the entire Roman world.

The theatre on Fourvière Hill is where the people of Lugdunum came to watch plays, listen to speeches, and spend time together as a community. Construction started around 15 BC, when workers carved the seats directly into the natural slope of the hillside.

The original theatre held about 5,000 people. Emperor Hadrian doubled that in the 2nd century AD, expanding it to hold 10,000 spectators and adding the massive stage wall whose foundations you can still see today.

After the Roman Empire fell, the theatre was slowly buried under the hill and forgotten for centuries. Archaeologists didn't start digging it out until 1933. What they found was remarkably well preserved, including the underground tunnels and trapdoors used to lift performers and scenery up onto the stage.

The theatre came back to life in 1946 with a performance of a 2,500-year-old Greek play. That same year the Les Nuits de Fourvière summer festival started, and it has run every year since.

Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Sting have all performed here under the stars, in a theatre built 2,000 years before microphones existed.

Right next door is the smaller Odeon, built for music and poetry in the early 2nd century, with a beautiful floor made of colored marble still visible in the orchestra pit. Both sites are free to visit.

Climb to the top rows and look out over Lyon's rooftops toward the Saône River. Then stop at the Lugdunum Museum next door to see Roman mosaics, including one showing a four-horse chariot race that is one of the best preserved anywhere in the world.