Jardin de Ville

This beautiful garden located only a few meters away from the Rhone River, was built throughout the 19th century. It was renamed after World War 2, as “May, 8th 1945 Garden”, in honor of the day marking the End of the war. It unveils beautiful flower beds, and around a hundred species of trees, which makes it a very pleasant park to walk through, even more so in spring when it blossoms and bursts with colours. Locals are quite fond of it, so it’s the ideal spot for visitors to take a break near the tourist office and the town’s historical center. This park reveals the remains of an ancient roman pathway, that we will see shortly, in the next audioguide. It is also only 10 minutes away from another relic of the same period. If you keep going in that direction leaving the park, and if you get to the Fernand Point Boulevard, you will encounter a stunning antique column called “Vienne’s Pyramid”. It belonged to a roman circus, built at the end of the 2nd century, to welcome the very popular roman cart races. This column was found during excavations launched throughout the 19th century, and remains to this day one of the oldest roman relics of this city. By the way, it is the last antique egyptian monument still standing in France. I strongly recommend you check it out !