Nyon Beneath Nyon: The Roman Town Below Our Streets
With thanks to Andrew Buchholtz for writing this article for Living in Nyon.
Andrew Buchholtz is a writer and researcher based in the La Côte region. Having grown up in Vaud, he enjoys exploring the history, culture, and communities of the area, and finding interesting local stories to share with Living in Nyon readers.
The city beneath your feet
Walking along the Grand-Rue, through the heart of Nyon’s old town, it is easy to focus on what is around you: shops and cafés, old buildings, and glimpses of the Château rising above the lake. What is less obvious is that another town lies just beneath your feet.
Modern Nyon was built directly over Noviodunum, the Roman town that occupied this same stretch of land more than 2,000 years ago. Because the centre of Nyon has remained in essentially the same place since Antiquity, much of the modern town stands on the footprint of its Roman predecessor.
Even the route is familiar. The Grand-Rue follows the line of one of Noviodunum’s principal Roman roads. Therefore, walking through Nyon today, you are not simply walking above a Roman town. In some places, you are still following its streets.
Grand-Rue in Nyon. Photo: Herbert wie / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Nyon Town Grand Rue Nyon
When Nyon was Noviodunum
Nyon’s Roman story began around 45 BC, when Julius Caesar established the Colonia Iulia Equestris on the shores of Lake Geneva. Founded shortly after the end of the Gallic Wars, the colony was likely intended to provide land for veterans of Caesar’s army while also strengthening Rome’s presence in the region.
Noviodunum became the colony’s main urban centre, built on the site occupied by Nyon today. This was not simply a small settlement on the edge of Roman territory, however, as the colony had its own political institutions modelled on those of Rome. Noviodunum developed into an important regional centre, complete with the public buildings, infrastructure, and gathering places expected of a Roman town.
More than 2,000 years later, many of those structures have not entirely disappeared. Their remains are still being discovered beneath modern Nyon.
At the heart of Roman Nyon
At the centre of Noviodunum stood its forum, the political and religious heart of the Roman town. Surrounded by important public buildings, it was a place where residents gathered, conducted business, and participated in the civic life of the colony. Among its most significant buildings was a large basilica, which served an important role in public and administrative affairs.
For centuries, much of this monumental centre remained hidden beneath Nyon, buried by the passage of time. That changed in 1974, when excavations uncovered the foundations of the Roman basilica. Rather than removing the remains from their original setting, the Musée romain de Nyon was built into the site itself, opening its doors five years later in 1979. This means that visitors entering the museum today are actually stepping directly into part of Noviodunum’s ancient civic centre.
The Roman city can be traced above ground as well. On the terrace above the museum, markings in the modern paving indicate parts of the basilica’s original layout, helping visitors imagine the scale of this ancient building.
Roman Columns Nyon Roman Columns Nyon Roman Columns Nyon
A town filled with everyday life
The grand buildings of Noviodunum only tell us part of its story. Like Nyon today, this was a living town, filled with people working, shopping, socialising, and going about their daily lives. Thanks to archaeological discoveries, we can catch glimpses of what some of those lives might have actually looked like.
Around Place du Marché and Rue du Marché, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a covered market and public baths. Elsewhere, excavations have revealed homes, workshops, drainage systems, and infrastructure that supplied the town with water. Looked at together, these discoveries paint a vibrant picture of a busy and organised community rather than a simple collection of impressive Roman monuments.
While the surroundings may have changed dramatically, the purpose of the town has not. Two thousand years ago, Noviodunum was a place where people lived, worked, met, and went about their day, just as Nyon is today.
The amphitheatre that disappeared
One of the most striking examples of Nyon’s hidden Roman past came to light relatively recently. In June 1996, construction work near Rue de la Porcelaine accidentally uncovered Roman masonry. As archaeologists investigated further, the curve of the newly discovered walls revealed that they were the remains of an amphitheatre.
Built around the beginning of the second century AD, the amphitheatre contained an elliptical arena measuring approximately 50 by 36 metres. Here, the inhabitants of Noviodunum would have gathered to watch the public spectacles that formed an important part of life across the Roman world.
Over the centuries, however, the amphitheatre gradually disappeared from view. Its stone was reused for other purposes, its remains were eventually filled in, and the town continued to develop around and above it. By the time of its rediscovery, generations of Nyon residents had lived alongside a substantial Roman structure without even knowing it was there.
Today, the amphitheatre is recognised as a monument of national importance, and plans are currently underway to preserve the site and make it more accessible to the public. Its rediscovery is also an important reminder that the archaeological story of Nyon is not necessarily finished. Even after centuries of construction and excavation, parts of Noviodunum may still remain undiscovered.
Two Nyons, one town
More than 2,000 years separate Noviodunum from the Nyon we know today, but the two towns are more closely connected than they first appear. Roman streets still influence the routes we walk, ancient foundations remain beneath our modern buildings, and traces of everyday life continue to emerge as the town develops.
Much of Noviodunum remains hidden. Archaeological remains are often documented and studied before being covered up again, while others may still be waiting to be discovered. What we can see today therefore represents only part of the Roman town that once occupied this same ground.
So, the next time you walk along the Grand-Rue, cross Place du Marché, or pass the Musée romain, it may be worth looking at your surroundings a little differently. The Nyon we see around us is only the latest chapter in a story that began more than two millennia ago, and much of that story is still right beneath our feet.
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