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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The ancient site of Sanxay, dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries, is a Gallo-Roman rural sanctuary linked to the cult of healing waters. It is structured around a rare octagonal temple, an amphitheater of 6,600 seats, and thermal baths associated with buildings for curators. Found between 1881 and 1883 by Father Camille de La Croix, the site was filled after the excavations, leaving visible only the temple, the amphitheater and the sanctuary of the waters, classified as historical monuments from 1882. The remains extend over 20 hectares, crossed by the Vonne River, with developments mostly located on its left bank.

The octagonal temple, uniquely designed in Gaul, has a cella of 13 m in diameter, surrounded by a Greek cross portico and a square peribol of 4,000 m2. A spring flows under its foundations, and an underground connects the building to an outside basin, suggesting a sacred drainage system. The theatre, backed by the steep slope of the right bank, combines the characteristics of the rural theatres and amphitheatres, with a semicircular cellar for 6,600 spectators and a scene overlooking an orchestra of 20 m in diameter.

The Sanctuary of Waters, modified eight times, evolves from a double cella temple (II century) to an atypical thermal complex, with hot pools and rooms dedicated to curists. The excavations of the 19th century revealed houses, hotels for pilgrims, and objects (currency, statues of Mercury and Venus) today preserved at the Musée Sainte-Croix de Poitiers. Occupied as early as the 1st century BC, the site declined after the 2nd century, perhaps due to the crisis of the 3rd century or Christianization. The visible remains, managed by the National Monuments Centre, remain open to the public.

The excavations, initiated in 1865 and systematized by Camille de La Croix (1881–83), suffered from archaic methods and post-search embankment, resulting in the loss of stratigraphic information. Subsequent campaigns (1938–1940, 1975–1976, 1985–1994) refined the understanding of the site, revealing its role as a place of thermal and religious pilgrimage. Modern surveys (since 1998) have allowed for better conservation of the three major ensembles: temple, theatre and sanctuary.

The site illustrates the Gallo-Roman provincial architecture, combining local innovations (octogonal plan, adapted baths) and Roman influences (theatre, fanum). Its east-west alignment between the octagonal temple, a funeral tholos and a fanum suggests symbolic planning. The objects discovered (jewels, pottery, currencies of the 1st–IIIth centuries) bear witness to sustained attendance before its gradual abandonment, linked to religious and political changes.

Today, the ruins classified in 1882 offer an exceptional testimony of the cultural and thermal practices in Roman Gaul. Their management by the National Monuments Centre allows for a tourist and scientific appreciation, while the collections of the St. Croix Museum complete the understanding of this major site of the ancient Vienna.

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