Remparts d’Autun et tour des Ursulines
Six kilometres of Roman walls, two thirds still standing, ending at a medieval tower crowned by the Virgin.
- Heritage site
- 48 min from Beaune
- Allow 1 to 1.5 hours
- Autun
€165one way from Beaune with a private driver
At a glance
- Official website
- autun-tourisme.com
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 48 min by road (54 km), €165 one way for the whole car.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the place
When Augustus founded Augustodunum, he granted the new capital of the Aedui a wall about 6 kilometres long. More than two thirds of it survives, an exceptional state of preservation for a Roman town wall, with some 30 of its round towers still visible. The best-preserved stretch runs along the boulevard Mac-Mahon up to the Tour des Ursulines, a medieval keep at the southern tip of the town.
What you will see
Follow the boulevard Mac-Mahon along the outside of the wall, where Roman masonry of small stones rises above the road, broken by rounded towers. The walk climbs to the Tour des Ursulines, built on Roman foundations, with twin round-arched windows below its terrace and the white statue on top. From there, the lanes of the upper town lead back to the Cathédrale Saint-Lazare; on the rue des Bancs, below the Musée Rolin, stand the remains of the 12th-century gate of the upper town.
History
The wall was built at the end of the 1st century BC, in a time of Roman peace, and was above all a mark of honour, a rare privilege granted by the emperor himself. It enclosed about 200 hectares of steep ground bounded by streams, and the curtain wall, about 2.5 metres thick, also held back the terraces on which the town was built. It had 57 round towers about ten metres across and four great gates, of which the Porte d'Arroux, the Porte Saint-André and part of the Porte Saint-Andoche remain.
At the end of the 3rd century a smaller enclosure of about ten hectares was built at the southern tip of the town; extended in the Middle Ages, it became the fortified upper town around the cathedral. At its southern end stood the castle of Riveau, a ducal and later royal citadel. After the Wars of Religion the townspeople asked for it to be dismantled, and between 1595 and 1602 only its octagonal keep was spared. The keep was given to the Ursuline nuns in 1647, hence its name, and a three-metre statue of the Virgin by the Autun architect and sculptor Claude Quarré has crowned it since 1862.
Planning your visit
Tips for your visit
The walls can be seen freely at any time from the boulevard Mac-Mahon and the paths around the upper town. The Tour des Ursulines is privately owned, so it is seen from outside. Allow an hour to an hour and a half, combined with the cathedral, a few minutes' walk away. The tourist office's cultural trail through Autun follows the walls and the main monuments; wear comfortable shoes for the slopes.
Around here
What to combine with Remparts d’Autun et tour des Ursulines on the same day, nearest first.
Questions
Remparts d’Autun et tour des Ursulines is about 48 min from Beaune by road (54 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €165 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? In the Roman town, every street of the regular grid ended at one of the towers of the wall.
Sources
Remparts d’Autun et tour des Ursulines with a private driver
€165 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests