Centre des monuments nationaux

Come and discover the Gallo-Roman site at Sanxay, located in the lush valley of the river Vonne between Poitiers and Niort, an important place for pilgrimages and taking the waters from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. It was excavated in 1881 by Father de La Croix.

Visiting the Sanxay Gallo-Roman site 

• A theatre, thermal baths and a temple. The theatre could take 6,500 spectators. The thermal baths were built in the 1st century and modified in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The three baths in these impressive ruins may be inspected from walkways. The temple, with an octagonal cella and cross-shaped gallery, was in all likelihood built on an old Gaulish site of worship.

Understanding the Gallo-Roman site at Sanxay 

• A place of culture. The site was a centre for thermal cures placed under the patronage of two divinities, perhaps Apollo and Mercury, gods of war and water divinities. It attracted a large number of patients and the faithful from the surrounding countryside.

• A place for entertainment. The inhabitants of the region gathered here to celebrate festivals relating to divinity worship, and to attend liturgies and spectacles in the theatre.