Ambrussum

Ambrussum is notable for its museum, its staging post on the Via Domitia, its bridge Pont Ambroix over the Vidourle, painted by Gustave Courbet, and for its oppidum (fortified village).

A lower settlement prone to flooding was a staging post for travellers on the Via Domitia and provided stabling and accommodation and the full range of repair facilities that were needed by carts and the Imperial postal service.

The Roman bridge was used until the Middle Ages but fell into disrepair, and only one complete arch remains.

The Via Domitia linked the Alps with the Pyrenees, and is the oldest Roman Road in Gaul, more specifically Gallia Narbonensis in France.

Laid out by Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus around 120 BC, it was to become part of the roads that linked Italy with Cadiz in Spain.

Ambrussum contains three archaeological sites of international importance: the Colline de Devès which was first occupied in 2300 BC and settled as an oppidum between 300 BC and 100 AD; the Roman staging post on the Via Domitia which had hotels, a baths and industrial buildings; the Roman bridge, the Pont Ambroix.

Nine square houses from the earliest period were recorded by Émile Marignan, these were roofed with branches and reeds.

This contained both rough earthenware pottery for cooking and a finer black glazed table ware.

During the first century BC, the hill was terraced and the houses became narrower similar to those found at Nages.

The hill was fortified in the late fourth century BC, the ramparts enclosed an area of 5.6 hectares (14 acres).

The south gate was enlarged and a large square was cleared behind with a civil basilica, stones of which made their way in the second century AD to the staging post.

The south gate does lead to a 'Route de la Monnaie', but the paved road in the oppidum has a gradient of 9% and is too narrow for carts to pass, although it would have been suitable for important visitors.

The paved road at the east gate leads towards the bridge, but stops abruptly at a steep bank.

[citation needed] The north of the post-conquest oppidum is densely populated, but the houses there were of the domus style found throughout the Empire - courtyard dwellings where the slaves lived closest to the entrance and the family in the building opposite.

The existence of a staging post for the Imperial mail is known of from written sources, and also that it was located by the Vidourle and as a consequence was continually being rebuilt.

It was renovated and possibly changed its use in the fourth century AD, at a time when the rest of the site had been abandoned.

[2] The antiquity of the Pont Ambroix had never been disputed and it had been visited by Mérimée, who included it in the first edition of his Historical Monuments of France in 1840.

[4] In 1964 Marc Fenouillet did a surface inspection in the vineyard at the base of the hill and found Roman era remains.

In 1984 the hill was donated to authorities in Lunel but the lower site remains in private ownership.

[4] In 2009 the community of Lunel began the construction of a visitor centre and museum, although work was interrupted in May 2011 by an accidental fire that set the vegetation alight.

The ramparts
Taverns and Hotels to the south of the mutatio.
The remaining arch of the Pont Ambroix .
The Visitors' Centre designed by Michel Goroneskoul opened on 25 June 2011.