Guided
Hiking

The mausoleum site: the funeral enclosure

You are at Faverolles’ Gallo-roman mausoleum. This site was discovered at the end of the 1970’s as people were working on the Roman road. The archaeological excavations really started in 1981.

This sumptuous tomb was built along the road. This location was carefully chosen in a dominant place, so that the monument could be seen from the surrounding countryside, especially because, at the time, the hill was only partially a woodland area.

The mausoleum doesn’t stand on its own; it is part of a group of sites discovered about the same time: villa, necropolis.......

The narrow tower stood above the basement, three levels of Corinthian order with a roof.

People, who took this road, were amazed by the richness of the monument standing before them, more than 20m high. The inscriptions on the plinth informed them of the identity and qualities of the leader.

The mausoleum, perfectly orientated in the cardinal directions, was built in a square enclosure, with a 32m long ditch. This enclosure was not meant to defend: it was symbolically put in place to outline the graveyard.

Now, all the remarkable sculptures which made up the architecture and funeral decor of the monument are exposed in the converted archaeological workshop-museum in the centre of the village. Nonetheless, you can see in the centre of the enclosure, the relics of the monument still in place. This enclosure, partially excavated, could still be hiding relics that we hope to discover during future excavations.

Go around to the right of the enclosure to go back to the Roman road.