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A little history of Sanxay archaeological site

The thermae, tepidarium | Jochen Jahnke / CC-BY-SA
Gallo-Roman Sanxay archaeological site

Sanxay is a big Gallo-Roman site discovered by father Camille de La Croix in 1881. People used to go here for balneotherapy and theatre. A holiday resort where people came to cure themselves, where they had fun! Come on, let’s go.

First, a temple: we found in the middle of the temple a statue of a goddess: Water or Fecundity goddess?

People used to enter in the temple by 4 gates.

What about thermae? Raised in the 2th century, they had several rooms with ponds. The water was brought by aqueducts, which arrested 7 different springs!

We can see 8 well-preserved hypocausts, a kind of heating system, used to heat ponds and rooms: cold water pond (frigidarium), warm water (tepidarium), hot water (caldarium).

Finally, the theatre, which could welcome 8 000 spectators! But... how could they house all those people?

To the south of the temple, we found hotels!

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!