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Origin and history

The Horreum is a Roman monument located in Narbonne, in the heart of town, close to the Palace of Archbishops. Ranked a historic monument in 1960 and 1961, it consists of underground galleries dating from the second half of the 1st century BC. These galleries, which have been open to the public since 1976, formed the lower floor of an ancient building that has now disappeared, whose exact function remains unknown. They are organized into three main wings (west, south and north) and have been part of a museum complex since 1997, managed by the EPCC Narbo Via since 2020.

The first explorations of the galleries date back to the 18th century, when the scholar G.-A. Lafont confused them with a Roman amphitheater. Between 1838 and 1842, the Narbonne Archaeological Commission discovered an opus spicatum pavement. From 1930 to 1943, Abbé Signal conducted excavations, which were interrupted in 1943 to build the galleries in shelter during the Second World War. In 1945, a poll on Rue Rouget-de-Lisle revealed the extension of the southern wing, and the term horreum (warehouse) was adopted. Classified in 1961, the galleries were designed for the public in 1976 after additional excavations conducted by Yves Solier, who discovered ancient coins.

The underground galleries, with an estimated area of 200 m2, have vaults on average at 2.30 m high. Their walls, built in opus incertum (irregular apparatus) and partly in opus reticulatum, probably supported a storey building. Soils, composed of clay, lime and gravel, include an opus spicatum pavement near a stairwell. Without wells or sighs, the galleries were illuminated by oil lamps, fragments of which were found. Their "U" plan, with a central corridor and side rooms, evokes the foundations of patrician villas or monumental Roman complexes, such as those of Otricoli or Tivoli in Italy.

The original function of galleries remains debated. They could have served as a sanitary vacuum for a public building such as a market (macellum) or a warehouse (horreum), a hypothesis supported by their proximity to the forum and main axis of the Roman city. Sidiine Apollinaire, in the fifth century, mentions the existence of such buildings in Narbonne. The redevelopments observed during late antiquity, such as the use of flat bricks at the corner of the west and south wings, attest to continuous attendance throughout the Roman period.

The galleries have undergone medieval alterations, with the development of two cellars disturbing their original layout. Their archaeological exploration revealed ancient graffiti, mainly in the northern part. Despite their partial state (partly collapsed south wing), they offer a rare testimony of Roman architecture in Narbonnaise Gaul. Their current management by Narbo Via is part of a process of valuing the ancient heritage of Narbonne, alongside the Narbo Via Museum and the site of Amphoralis.

Historical sources, such as the works of Louis Sigal (1954) and Yves Solier (1973), underline the importance of the Horreum in understanding Roman construction techniques and urban planning of Narbo Martius, the capital of the Roman province of Narbonnaise. Its ranking among historical monuments and its integration into a museum trail make it a key site for the study of antiquity in the south of France.

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