Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Gallo-Roman theatre of Brion, built in the first century under the High Roman Empire, is a modest monument (57 m in diameter) located on the town of Saint-Germain-d'Esteuil in Gironde. Located southwest of an ancient agglomeration with a sanctuary, it was abandoned around the third century, then transformed into a stone quarry. His masonries, in opus mixtum (calcareous stone and bricks), included a cellara of four concentric rings, nine vomitories, and a semicircular orchestra of 23.40 m in diameter. The stage, small in size, impaled on the orchestra, typical of the Gallo-Roman secondary agglomerations.

In the 14th century, the ruins of the theatre were reused to build a short-lived, strong house (circa 1340–162). This medieval reoccupation includes a square tower of 10 m side, a body of rectangular houses installed in the old orchestra, and a enclosure combining ancient structures and medieval ditches. No currency after 1362 was found, suggesting a rapid abandonment, perhaps linked to Arnaud de Bourg, excommunicated in 1340 and then rehabilitated, who lived there briefly.

Rediscovered in 1784 by Father Jacques Baurein, the site was described in detail by Léo Drouyn in 1853, who joined the ancient city of Noviomagus Medulorum. Falling into oblivion, it was released in 1966 by Jean Chevrier and Charles Galy-Aché, revealing Gallo-Roman theatre. In 1984, it remained the only ancient theatre known south of the Garonne in the Aquitaine basin. Subsequent excavations (1980s, 2011) focused on other areas of the site, leaving the theatre partially studied because of its dense vegetation.

The monument illustrates a double historical occupation: a Roman public theatre, symbol of Romanization in a secondary agglomeration, then a medieval ephemeral strong house, showing strategic reuse of ancient remains. Its mixed architecture (opus mixtum, radiating stands) and its estimated capacity of 2,200 places make it a rare example of Gallo-Roman cultural building in Aquitaine. The early medieval abandonment and the absence of contemporary written sources, however, leave areas shaded over its exact use in the 14th century.

External links