Lousonna

Lousonna is a Gallo-Roman Vicus whose site is today in the district of Vidy to Lausanne. The vicus, from which the foundation is dated with 15 av. J. - C., is located at an important crossroads of commercial axes, at the limit of the basins Rhodanien and Rhenish, and on the road of the Col of the Large-Saint-Bernard, connecting the Italy to the Gaulle. Its dimensions: 1,2 km length on 250m of width for a surface of 20ha, do of it one of largest the vicus of Switzerland. With its apogee, 1500 to 2000 inhabitants logaient there. Lousonna was located in edge of the Lake Léman, then constituting an important navigation and transportation route, and where the Corporation of Nautes (Boatmen) was established. Corportaion ensured, thanks to its large flat-bottomed boats, an intense trade of amphoras coming from the Mediterranean and between Genava (Geneva) and Lousonna. Those were then unloaded there before taking the road of Yverdon-the-Baths and the Rhénan basin. The archaeological material found on the site, attests role of place of exchange of this vicus. Lousonna will start to decline as from the period of the Germanic invasions of the 3rd century; the site will be definitively abandoned with the profit of the hill of the city, in the middle of the 4th century.

Discovered and excavations of the site

Attested since the beginning of the 15th century by discoveries made on the site, one discovers that the first hard copies date from the 18th century, when one also mentioned, for the first time, the name of Lousonna. Following the urbanization of the site at the beginning of the 19th century, one obtains the first scientific statements, but it is only in the Années 1930, that one sticks to real excavations. It is thus at that time that one will découvra a hornée house of frescos and on which will be founded the Romain Museum of Lausanne. One released in same time the center of the city. New excavations are undertaken in the Années 1960, during the construction of the Autoroute A1, then during the construction of the Swiss national Exposition of 1964.

The site

The site of Lousonna is currently in the district of Vidy, with approximately 200 meters of banks of Léman. One can at that time visit part of the released site, bordered in the south by a pond pointing out bank of the lake. the forum : The forum of Lousonna was not located at the center of the agglomeration but at the East of this one, on a position a little higher. It is bordered in the south by the Basilique, located at the edge of the lake. It is the most important building of the site. Its principal function was probably that of a meeting room of the municipal council, which, as in all the cities of the territory helvète, depended on the Colony of Aventicum (Avenches). The basilica was to also be used of court and center of exchange. Leant with this one, one finds shops and scholae. In the center of the place, the square temple of Gallo-Roman type, is built more tardily in the middle of the 3^ème century. It is dedicated to the worship of Rome and the Emperor, as the fragments of a plank found in the vicinity attest it. the port : is located beside the basilica. It is the point of principal passage for the goods forwarding by Lousonna; mainly olives, wine of the valley of the Rhone and canned fish. The adjacent buildings are the warehouses of the Corporation of the boatmen and the commercial premises. The boats approached is the enrochée bank, or were drawn on a tilted and built level which one can always observe today.

The other buildings of the site, excavated during the years 1930, cannot be dated with certainty and their functions are badly known. It is probable that those corresponded to administrative buildings or, for pie of houses bordering the forum in north, with dwellings.

Random links: