Reading time:
Voices of Ancient Lugdunum:
An Exhibition on Lyon's Roman Inhabitants
so normal in the city’s past.
What is it about?
The exhibition explains the lives of 6 people who really existed and lived in Lyon.
For each personage, we start with an object (tombstone, steps with the person’s name on them, etc.) to reconstruct their past.
The six persons exhibited are:
- Caius Julius Rufus. A Gaulish notary, he inserted himself into Roman society without forgetting his origins.
- Julia Helias. Priestess of an imperial cult, born in Lyons.
- Secundinia Justa. German, marries a Bulgarian soldier by whom she has a son and follows him to Lyons.
- Julius Alexander. Tunisian glass craftsman who opens an atelier in Lyon.
- Cyrilla. Greek/Turkish slave bought by a legionnaire follows him to Lyon where, once the soldier has retired, she marries him, thus becoming free.
- Thaim called ‘Julianus’. Syrian trader opens a warehouse in Lyon from which he sells local goods despite his origins.
Why see it if I am visiting Lyon?
Because it allows you to see the invisible, in other words, the Roman past of the city of Lyon of which, unfortunately, little remains to the naked eye. The museum is also a five-minute walk from the Basilica of Fourvière and is located in the largest Roman amphitheater in France (10,000 seats!), which is totally free to visit (the museum, on the other hand, is chargeable but absolutely worth the visit). The city of Lugdunum (the ancient name for Lyon during the Roman Empire) was the largest Roman city outside Italy in the whole Roman Empire and a visit to this exhibition will reveal the city’s past through original objects found during excavations but also international loans, all linked to the true story of 6 people who existed and lived in Lyon during the Roman Empire.
In short, if you really want to understand the History of Lyon, this exhibition and the Theater are a must.
How long to visit the exhibition?
The exhibition, which can be visited in less than two hours (longer if, like me, you read every single explanation and look at every single object, but I would live in museums so I am a case apart) is a pleasant and entertaining experience to have.
What did I like?
What has always fascinated me in the best exhibitions is their ability to tell History with a capital S through small stories of everyday life, humanising History and putting the real protagonist of our past back at the centre: the human soul. Love, sadness, defeat, victory, thirst for power, loyalty are universal concepts that will always be present in every era and civilization… because the human soul will never change.
The power of this exhibition is precisely that of giving a human side to History and especially to the Roman past of the city of Lyon by tracing, through historical evidence and contextualisation, the stories of 6 real-life characters who lived in Lyon.
It is also nice to put them in context with objects from everyday life: Secundinia Justa, a German girl who marries a Thracian soldier (present-day Bulgaria) and becomes the mother of a child is shown among others with maternity-related objects such as baby bottles or children’s toys from Roman times, which she probably used to raise her child.
The objects are also on loan from very important collections: from abroad such as Germany, or from French collections such as the prestigious Louvre.
A big round of applause for the graphics, from the beautiful illustrations to the graphics and infographics as well as the entire layout, which as always demonstrate the museum’s attention to the aesthetic side of communication and its use to involve all audiences and make information more accessible.
At the end of the exhibition, one almost feels a human connection with the six protagonists, as if they were strangers met at a bar who, after a few too many drinks, told you about their past of love, pride in their origins, personal conflicts, brotherhood, hatred and so on. It’s almost like watching an exhibition about characters from novels (as they all have very special stories)… who really existed!
Is it tourist friendly?
Yes and no. Unfortunately, not all the explanations are translated into English, but the main ones are (a little more than half of them) and these are the ones that allow you to understand the contextualisation of the objects. Therefore, you understand the exhibition and you understand the objects on display. Thanks to the use of some interactive exhibits, the exhibition is not boring, especially for teenagers or children, but tourists may feel excluded from some of the content. For example, the children’s playbook is only in French (no copy even borrowed from what I could see is in English) as well as the areas with stories told in audio form are only in French, offset by the translated text in printed English. Same story for the interactive areas where you can analyse the work from which you started to trace the life of each character where the video explaining the work is only in French, rendering the experience useless for a person who does not speak French.
I personally did not understand the decision not to translate all the texts, excluding the non-French speaking audience from a deeper reading of the exhibition, but I understand that the main type of audience is French. Unfortunately, given the quality of the material on display, but above all the enormous work of contextualisation and creation of interactive content tailor-made by the museum for the exhibition, I find it a pity that this work is not fully but partially disseminated to all audiences (including non-French-speaking audiences, which, alas, it is the fortunate case to note are rapidly growing in tourism, including cultural tourism in Lyon).
To be seen, therefore, and explained in its context, but to be taken into account that you will not have access to all the information compared to a French-speaking audience (about half, from what I could ascertain).
Summary
Who is it recommended for?
Highly recommended if you are a history buff, because it makes us re-evaluate the distances of the Empire, the speed with which people moved and the multiculturalism of the Empire, which assimilated, incorporated and moved people with profoundly different backgrounds for kilometres (such as Julius Alexander, who from Tunis arrived in Lyon in just 20 days, passing through Sardinia, Rome and finally arriving in France first in Marseilles and then Lyon). Or their ability to coexist and at the same time evolve without losing their roots (such as Caius Julius Rufus, who has a monument erected with his Roman name but in which he also pays homage to his Gaulish ancestors by proudly having their name engraved on it).
Interesting for those who work with outreach, teaching, or in museums to be able to see how to make an interesting, interactive and modern-looking display in a profoundly classical context such as a Roman history museum.
To whom would I advise against it?
Young children. A lot of the information is too technical for them to understand or attract their attention, but the museum’s main exhibition is entirely on their terms.
People not interested in history. I think a minimum of passion about the subject is necessary to be able to visit the exhibition without getting bored, also because unfortunately a lot of the interactive content is only for French speakers.
People who want a short and light exhibition. There is a lot of writing, a lot of objects, a lot to read to understand what you are seeing. If you want something lighter and have little time, I would visit the permanent exhibition of the museum, keeping this temporary exhibition as an extra at the end of the visit.
For those who expect to have all the content accessible in English. Unfortunately, as explained before, this is not the case (but the most important part is translated).
So is it worth it or not?
Generally speaking yes, with some exceptions (e.g. those who want everything in English, those who are not interested in history, young children). It should also be remembered that the Museum is currently the only one on Lyon that allows visits (including temporary exhibitions like this one) free of charge every first Sunday of the month, making culture accessible to all. It is also the museum currently experimenting the most with outreach (escape games organised in the halls, ancient herbalist workshops, mosaic workshops, historical festivals with actors in period dress, Lego in the museum, etc.). ) taking all the risks as well as the benefits. A young director who has personally made the richness of this museum in recent years, making it open to all kinds of audiences and, above all, alive, can only have my full support.
You will not regret it.
Practical info:
Lugdunum – Musée et Théâtres romains, 17 rue Cléberg 69005 LYON
4 October 2024 – 1 June 2025
Mondays: closed
Tuesday to Friday: 11am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday: 10am to 6pm
Entrance included in the Museum ticket (7 euros).
Free: first Sunday of each month, -18 years old, +65 years old, Lyon City Card holders (other free entries here https://lugdunum.grandlyon.com/fr/venir-a-lugdunum/horaires-et-tarifs )
