Fanum d'Aron is a

fanum Fanum may refer to: * Fanum (streamer) (Roberto Escanio Pena, born 1997), Dominican-American content creator * Fanum (Roman religion), a sacred space in ancient Roman religion * Fanum House, the former headquarters of the Automobile Association in ...

, or

Romano-Celtic temple A Romano-Celtic temple or is a sub-class of Roman temples which is found in the north-western Celtic provinces of the Roman Empire. It was the centre of worship in the Gallo-Roman religion. The architecture of Romano-Celtic temples differs from ...

, located in

Aurillac Aurillac (; ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Geography Aurillac is at above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin. The city is b ...

, a French commune in the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

region.

Site and status

Discovered in 1970 in the southwest of Aurillac, the temple was excavated from May 1977 through the end of 1978 and added to the ''

monuments historiques () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' registry in 1980. It is situated in what is now a small municipal garden, between a pavilion and the Lescudilier industrial zone (cadastre BE n°360).

History

Salvage excavations have recovered rich materials from the site, including lapidary pieces, glass and metallic artifacts, coins, eight column capitals (four of which feature sculpted

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava (or shallow intrus ...

heads representing the Sun and Moon), a fluted column barrel fragment, and ceramics as well as

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

antefix In architecture, an antefix () is a vertical block which terminates and conceals the covering tiles of a tiled roof (see imbrex and tegula, monk and nun). It also serves to protect the join from the elements. In grand buildings, the face of e ...

es. These objects establish that the temple would have been in use from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. Some artifacts and architectural elements from the site are kept on display at the Aurillac Museum of Art and Archeology, along with a model reconstruction of the fanum.

Architecture

The fanum is a circular chamber ''(

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

)'' surrounded by a sixteen-sided polygonal

ambulatory The ambulatory ( 'walking place') is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13t ...

or gallery, which opens onto the

Cère The Cère (; ) is a long river in south-western France, and a left tributary of the Dordogne. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, near the Plomb du Cantal mountain. It flows generally west through the following ''départements' ...

and Jordanne River valleys. The angles of the polygon are marked by the bases of fluted columns (eight of which are found in-place) bearing acanthus-leafed

Corinthian capitals The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

Terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

es found at the site give some indication of the roofing materials and design. The complex appears to have had a courtyard encircled by a perimeter wall that was discovered through

sondage A sondage is an archaeological process to clarify stratigraphic sequences during preliminary investigations of the terrain prior to an archaeological dig. In a narrower sense it is a "deep trial trench for inspecting stratigraphy".

, towards the northwest. The wall is from the fanum, with a northwest-northeast orientation erected over a length of . There are also vestiges of a partially exposed square enclosure with paved ground southeast of the fanum, whose sides are long. The structure is speculated to perhaps have been an annex of the sanctuary, a shelter for receiving pilgrims, or even another fanum. ''Fanum d'Aron'' appears uncommon in

Arverni The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the n ...

and

Vellavi The Vellavii (Gaulish: *''Uellauī/Wellawī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling around the modern city of Le Puy-en-Velay, in the region of the Auvergne, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Vellaviis'' (var. '' ...

territory for having a polygonal rather than quadrangular ambulatory, and unique for the ambulatory being of sixteen sides. Another fanum found at Mauriac (Cantal) can be compared for appearing to have had a round ''cella'' and decagonal ambulatory. This uncommon round ''cella'' with polygonal ambulatory plan seems to be more typical of Western Gaul than elsewhere, as it is also found in examples at Saint-Gervais (Vendée) and

Chassenon Chassenon (; ) is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. History The ancient name of the village was ''Cassinomagus''. Situated on the Agrippan Way (Lyon - Saintes), Cassinomagus was, in the Roman times, important en ...

(Charente).

Related sites

A prospection of the Cantal ''département'' made by Alphonse Vinatié (1924–2005), a local archaeologist, made it possible to identify three other ancient sanctuaries in

Landeyrat Landeyrat (; ) is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France. Population See also *Communes of the Cantal department The following is a list of the 246 Communes of France, communes of the Cantal Departments of France, d ...

and Allanche, as well as possible sites in Celles, Charmensac, and Mauriac Vernols.

Site and status

History

Architecture

Related sites

See also

References

Further reading