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Origin and history

The Arroux Gate, also known as the Sens Gate, is one of the four main entrances to the Roman enclosure of Augustostodunum (Autun), built during the reign of Augustus in the third century. It marked the north passage to Auxerre via via Agrippa, while serving as a defensive and fiscal control point thanks to a system of airlocks and harrows. Its architecture combines four vaulted arches (two for vehicles, two for pedestrians) and a superior arcade gallery, flanked by absidial towers now missing. The materials used — local sandstone, Chalon-sur-Saône Oolithic limestone and granite — reflect both technical imperatives and aesthetic will, symbolizing the power of the city.

Transformed into a medieval chapel under the name of Our Lady of Arroux, the door lost its towers and part of its interior structure, but retains its four original passages and remains of the gallery. Ranked a historical monument in 1846, it illustrates Roman engineering and the strategic role of Autun, founded as the capital of the Eduans. Its internal airlock, comparable to that of the Auguste door in Nîmes, allowed to filter the entries and collect taxes on the goods, stressing its dual military and economic function.

The gate is part of an urban network structured around the cardus maximus (via Agrippa), linking Chalon-sur-Saône to Auxerre. Its location halfway down the hill, visible from outside the city, reinforced its monumental impact. Recent excavations revealed a body of interior building today disappeared, confirming its organization in double door with central courtyard. The light limestone trimmings, originally brilliant, were to impress travellers entering Augustodunum, a prosperous city of Roman Gaul.

The debate persists on the precise dating of its construction (the beginning or end of Augustus' reign), but its integration into the 6 km enclosure, pierced by four cardinal gates, attests to ambitious urban planning. Of these doors, only Arroux and Saint Andrew's Gate remain significantly. The disappearance of the Rome Gate and the fragmentary state of the St.Andoche Gate underline the rarity of the Austrian remains, where the Arroux Gate remains a major testimony of Roman military architecture in Burgundy.

The 19th century records, such as those of Jean Roidot-Déléage, partially document the missing towers, while contemporary studies (notably those of Alain Rebourg or Yannick Labaune) specify its operation. The gate, owned by the commune, is today a symbol of the ancient heritage of Autun, classified among the first historical monuments of France. Its present state, though partial, allows to understand the ambition of the Roman founders and the medieval adaptation of this emblematic monument.

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