From left to right, top to bottom: partial view of the city and the Rhône river fromSaint-Romain-en-Gal with the Pipet sanctuary atop the hill; a bust of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Gallo-Roman temple of Augustus and Livia; theSaint-Maurice Cathedral; the archeological gardens of Cybèle; the Obelisk from the Gallo-Roman circus, rueFernand Point; the Château de la Bâtie atop Mont Salomon; under the Saint-Martin bridge in the Gère valley; the Roman Theatre and the city from Pipet hill.
Coat of arms
Motto(s):
Vienna Civitas Sancta "Vienne Saint City" (prior to 1887) Vienna Urbs Senatoria "Vienne Senatorial City" (since 1887)
The town is now a regional commercial and industrial centre, known regionally for its Saturday market. A Roman temple, circus pyramid and theatre (where the annualJazz à Vienne is held), as well as museums (archaeological, textile industry) and notable Catholic buildings, maketourism an important part of the town's economy.
Vienne became the seat of the vicar of prefects after the creation of regional dioceses, of which the date is still controversial. Regional dioceses were created during the FirstTetrarchy, 293–305, or possibly later as some recent studies suggest in 313, but no later than theVerona List, which is securely dated to June 314.[6]
On the bank of the Gère are traces of theramparts of the old Roman city, and on Mont Pipet (east of the town) are the remains of aRoman theatre, while the thirteenth-century castle built on Mont Salomon on the orders of ArchbishopJean de Bernin [fr] is said to have been built on the site of a former Roman fort.[7] Several ancientaqueducts remain in the Gère valley and parts ofRoman roads are preserved (in particular in the city park).
Two important Roman monuments still stand at Vienne. One is the Early ImperialTemple of Augustus and Livia, a rectangular peripteral building of theCorinthian order, erected by the emperorClaudius, which owes its survival, like theMaison Carrée atNîmes, to beingconverted to a church soon after theTheodosian decrees and later rededicated as "Notre Dame de Vie". During the RevolutionaryReign of Terror it was used for the localFestival of Reason. The other is thePlan de l'Aiguille, a truncated pyramid resting on a portico with four arches, from theRoman circus. Legends from the 13th century mentionPontius Pilate's death in Vienne. Later legends held that the pyramid was either the tomb of Herod Archelaus or of Pontius Pilate.[8]
The vestiges of a temple toCybèle were discovered in 1945 when a new hospital was built on Mount Salomon and the Ancien Hôpital in the center of town was torn down. Subsequent archaeological research conducted in 1965 permitted detailed reconstruction of the floor plan for the temple as well as the surrounding forum and established that the temple was constructed in the first century AD.[9]
Léonard Périer,Virgin and Child, colossal statue overlooking Vienne from the Pipet hill
The provincial capital was an important early seat of a bishop and the legendary first bishop is said to have beenCrescens, a disciple ofPaul. There were Christians here in 177 when the churches of Vienne and Lyon addressed a letter to those of Asia and Phrygia, and mention is made of Sanctus, adeacon of Vienne (Eusebius of Caesarea,Church History).[10] The first historical bishop wasVerus, who was present at theCouncil of Arles (314). About 450, Vienne's bishops became archbishops, several of whom played an important cultural role, e.g.Mamertus, who established Rogation pilgrimages, and the poet,Avitus (498–518). Vienne's archbishops and those of Lyon disputed the title of "Primate of All the Gauls" based on the dates of founding of the cities compared to the dates of founding of the bishoprics.[4] Vienne's archbishopric was suppressed in 1790,[4] during theFrench Revolution and officially terminated 11 years later by theConcordat of 1801.
KingCharles II the Bald assigned the Viennois district in 869 toComteBoso of Provence, who in 879 proclaimed himselfking of Provence and on his death in 887 was buried at Vienne in the cathedral church of St. Maurice.[4] Vienne then continued as capital of the Kingdom of Provence, and from 933 of theKingdom of Burgundy until 1032, when the region was incorporated into theHoly Roman Empire.
The temporal rule over the city was exercised by thearchbishops of Vienne. Their rights were repeatedly recognized, but they had various local rivals, mainly in thecounts of Albon, who were styled as "dauphins of Viennois", since they held much of the region ofViennois, but did not hold power over the city itself. In 1349, dauphinHumbert II sold his domains inDauphiné to the french kingPhilip VI, but the archbishop stood firm and the city of Vienne was not included in this sale, remaining under the archiepiscopal rule until the middle of the 15th century, when it was finally incorporated intoDauphiné.[11]
Gui de Bourgogne, who was archbishop from 1090 to 1119, was elected pope in 1119 and served asCallixtus II until his death in 1124.[4]
Jean de Bernin drew up amunicipal charter (charte des franchises) for Vienne around 1225 (including provisions for a town council). Nevertheless, it was only in the fifteenth century that thecoat of arms (Vienna civitas sancta) with an elm tree is attested (based on a tree uprooted around 1430 from near Saint-André-le-bas).[12]
TheCouncil of Vienne was the fifteenthEcumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne. Its principal act was to withdraw papal support for theKnights Templar[4] on the instigation of Philip IV of France.
The archbishops gave up their territorial powers over Vienne to theDauphin of Viennois in 1448-1450.[13]
Between 1482 and 1527, French kings appointed four Italians as archbishop of Vienne in succession, beginning withAngelo Cato [fr], a doctor and astrologer. The last of these,Scaramuccia Trivulzio, died in Rome before he could take possession of the archbishopric, which allowed for the confirmation ofPierre Palmier [fr], elected by the canons of Saint-Maurice in an act of resistance to the royal practice of appointing foreign prelates.[14] At this time, there was no shortage of priests:[15] a 1551 consular document indicated that over 5000 masses were celebrated each year in Vienne.[16]
As a result of a 1540 printers' strike in Lyon,Michael Servetus' publisher moved to Vienne,[17] where Pierre Palmier had invited his former teacher to come live.[18] From 1541, Servetus worked as a doctor in the town, where he was known as Michel de Villeneuve, but also participated in decisions related to town infrastructure (rebuilding the Saint-Sévère bridge over theGère after the 13 October 1544 flood).[19] In January 1553 hisChristianismi Restitutio[α] was published anonymously in Vienne in a clandestine workshop, after being refused by a publisher in Basel.[20] Jean Frellon, a Lyon bookseller, sent a copy to the theologianJohn Calvin,[21] because Servetus had included his correspondence with Calvin in the book.[22] Calvin, who viewed Servetus as a delirious braggart, insinuated dire consequences should Servetus come to Geneva.[β] In the book, Servetus was also critical of the Pope and the Roman church, particularly of the doctrine of the Trinity and of child baptism. By order of CardinalFrançois de Tournon and Archbishop Palmier, he was arrested on 5 April 1553.[24] Questioned for the next two days by the inquisitorMatthieu Ory, among others, he denied that he was Servetus, saying he had usurped the name for his correspondence with Calvin.[25] On the morning of the third day, he managed to escape from the prison due to the special privileges accorded him by thebailliff.[26] Ory recommended that he be found guilty of heresy, which was done on 17 June, when he was condemned to be burned at the stake, along with his books, in a then-undeveloped area of the Saint-Martin neighbourhood.[27]
Vienne was sacked in 1562 by the Protestants under thebaron des Adrets, and was held by theCatholic League from 1590 until 1595, when it was taken in the name ofKing Henry IV byHenri de Montmorency. The fortifications were demolished between 1589 and 1636.[4] TheHôtel de Ville was commissioned as a private residence in the late 17th century.[28]
On the right, themanège (1886) of the former cavalry regiment in the Saint-Germain neighbourhood, now a concert hall
Train stations were built in Vienne in 1855 and in Estressin in 1875 providing freight transport to the textile and metallurgy industries, which took advantage of the water power in the Gère valley.[29]
In 1875, the State signed a contract with Vienne for the establishment of a cavalry regiment, necessitating the construction of a barracks from 1882 to 1886 in what became known as the Quartier Saint-Germain in 1887. When the last military regiment was disbanded in 1990, the former barracks was transformed into a business center, with some of the buildings conserved, such as the riding academy, which became a concert hall in 2018.[30]
The two outstanding Roman remains in Vienne are the temple ofAugustus andLivia, and thePlan de l'Aiguille orPyramide, a truncated pyramid resting on a portico with four arches, which was associated with the city'sRoman circus.
The earlyRomanesquechurch of Saint Peter belonged to an ancientBenedictine abbey and was rebuilt in the ninth century, with tall square piers and two ranges of windows in the tallaisles and a notable porch. It is one of France's oldest Christian buildings dating from the 5th century laid-out in the form of abasilica and having a large and well constructednave. It also has a Romanesque tower and a sculptured South portal containing a statue of Saint Peter. Today, the building houses alapidary museum that holds aJunon head and a statue ofTutela, the city's protective divinity.
TheGothic formercathedral ofSt Maurice was built between 1052 and 1533. It is a basilica, with three aisles and an apse, but noambulatory ortransepts. It is 315 feet (96 m) in length, 118 feet (36 m) wide and 89 feet (27 m) in height. The most striking portion is the west front, which rises majestically from a terrace overhanging the Rhône. Its sculptural decoration was badly damaged by theProtestants in 1562 during theWars of Religion.[4]
TheRomanesque church of St André en Bas was the church of a second Benedictine monastery, and became the chapel of the earlier kings of Provence. It was rebuilt in 1152, in the later Romanesque style.[4]
The Monument aux Morts in front of the train station is the work ofClaude Grange and was inaugurated on 9 September 1923 byPhilippe Pétain.[33][34]
Château de la Batie on Mont Salomon towers over the Rhône and Estressin (north Vienne) with Collège Ponsard in the foreground
View from Mont Salomon with thePilat massif in the background (Sainte-Colombe on the right, Vienne (south) on the right, the medieval castle in the foreground)
^Writing toWilliam Farel of Servetus' "Thrasonic bravado" in 1546, and of the latter's announced plan to visit him in Geneva, Calvin said that as long as his voice carried weight in Geneva, should Servetus come, he would never return home alive[23] —a wish that came to be fulfilled seven years later.
^Constantin Zuckerman, 'Sur la liste de Vérone et la province de Grande Arménie, la division de l'empire et la date de création des diocèses', 2002Travaux et Mémoires 12: Mélanges Gilbert Dagron, pp. 618–637 argues for a decision to create diocese by Constantine and Licinius at the meeting in Milan in February 313; since 1980 several scholars have suggested later dates (303, 305, 306, 313/14) than the traditional date of 297 set byTheodor Mommsen in the late 19th century
^André Pelletier (1966). "Les fouilles du "temple de cybèle" à Vienne (Isère) rapport provisoire".Revue Archéologique (in French) (1). Presses Universitaires de France:113–150.JSTOR41005435.
^Caporal345 (5 October 2011)."La Garnison de Vienne".Musée du patrimoine militaire de Lyon et sa région.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Cavard, Pierre (1950).La Réforme et les guerres de religions à Vienne [The Reformation and the Wars of Religion in Vienne] (in French). Vienne: Blanchard frères.
Cavard, Pierre (1953).Le Procès de Michel Servet à Vienne [The Trial of Michaelus Servetus in Vienne] (in French). Vienne: Blanchard frères.
Cavard, Pierre (1976).Vienne la sainte [Vienne the Holy] (in French). Vienne: Blanchard frères.
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