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The temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne

** The shot was hand held though I did use a flash, which is rare for me

The town of Vienne sits on the banks of the River Rhone about twenty miles south of Lyon . Vienne is a town with a lot of history to put it mildly . Its most glorious building in the Roman temple of Augustus and Livia that was built in 40 CE. It's one of two Roman temples that still stand in France . It is extraordinary that it has survived for two millennia .

 

The temple is right in the middle of town there are cafes and small supermarkets on the same street . It's extraordinary to me at least that you might pop into the shop for a jar of coffee and on your way out see a building that is 2,000 years old . I guess it's one reason I i am happy to live in the Old world, you do have a sense of the continuity of human activity. Even in Hull should I want to I can go into Hull Minster were people have gathered together for over a thousand years . History not written in books but available to the touch the power of old stones.

 

A bit of history of the temple

Two important Roman monuments still stand at Vienne. One is the Early Imperial temple of Augustus and Livia, a rectangular peripteral building of the Corinthian order, erected by the emperor Claudius, which owes its survival, like the Maison Carrée at Nîmes, to being converted to a church soon after the Theodosian decrees in 381 CE that started to attack paganism and replace it with Christianity

 

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Uploaded on November 29, 2022
Taken on September 22, 2018