Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The site of the Croix-Guillaume, located in Saint-Quirin en Moselle (Great East), is a Gallo-Roman hamlet located on a grizzly plateau of 7,000 m2 at 487 m above sea level. Occupied from the end of the first century (around 80 AD) to the second half of the third century, it dominates the valleys of the Red and White Saar. This strategic place, 20 km from Pons Saravi (Sarrebourg), marks a stop on the ancient Langres-Strasbourg road before the Saverne Pass. The first archaeological investigations date back to 1962, followed by systematic excavations between 1994 and 1999.

The site concentrates all the functions of an ancient hamlet: habitat (5 buildings, one of which is 22 m long), sandstone quarries exploited by resident quarryers, two cult areas dedicated to deities such as Taranis-Jupiter, Mercury or Rosmerta, and a necropolis of 80 funeral structures. Among the remarkable discoveries are votive steles, statues of horsemen in the Anguipede (one with an eagle, Jupiter's attribute), and cult objects such as a bull in the round-bosse, rare in Gaul. The quarries, recognizable by their size fronts and tools (iron corners), reveal local production and foreign trade, attested by a plate intended for a mausoleum.

The necropolis delivers cinemar urns in ceramic or sandstone, offerings (fibules, axes, fusaïoles) and typical funeral steles (steles-houses with roses, steles-plates in bust). The tombs, marked by circles of stones, evolve to wooden or sandstone chests from the 2nd century. The site also illustrates agro-pastoral activities, with a cistern collecting water and cultivated terraces. A milestone discovered in 1869 confirms its role on the ancient way between the Donon and Saarburg via the Cross-Guillaume.

Ranked Historic Monument in 2003, the site covers 25,000 m2 including the excavated plateau, an ancient road and a buffer zone. The artifacts (ceramics, metals, sculptures) are preserved at the Saarburg Museum and the Lapidary Museum of Avignon. Its abandonment in the third century coincides with the upheavals of this period. Today, accessible by a path marked from Saint Quirin, it offers a unique testimony of the occupation of the Vosgesian heights in Roman times.

The excavations revealed cultural ties with the Donon, located 10 km south, where a similar bas-relief (lion and bull faced) is displayed at the Museum of Epinal. This network of sites highlights the importance of communication channels and religious exchanges in the Gallo-Roman Vosges. The itinerant carriagemen and the local stone tailors left technical traces there (e.g., embossed lines, girdles), proving a structured craft organisation.

Archaeological furniture, such as statues of horsemen or votive steles, attests to religious syncretism between Gaulish cults (Taranis, Epona) and Romans (Jupiter, Mercury). The diversity of funeral practices (incineration, pierced enclosures) reflects a mixed community, probably composed of quarryers, artisans and peasants. The site, studied by scholars since the 18th century, remains a key milestone in understanding the adaptation of local populations to Romanization in Lorraine.

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