Minerva museum

This Old Town

eglise.jpg

There were Paleolithic hunters living in Yzeures-sur-Creuse more than 12,000 years ago. It also has a Roman past.

 

 

 

The present church was built in 1895. But when the old medieval church was demolished, 80 large foundation blocks from the Roman period were discovered. They were arranged so as to serve as foundations for a monument anterior to the medieval church, and were all that remained of the Merovingian church that had been established here in the mid-5th Century. 

Excavations revealed 4 types of blocks forming 3 monuments, a 9 meter tall votive pillar to the Roman God Jupiter, a polygonal temple building and a sacred altar and temple dedicated to the Goddess Minerva. They date to the late 2nd Century AD.

These Roman blocks can be seen in the Minerva museum in Yzeures sur Creuse. This nice little  museum is just a few steps from the site where the temples were originally erected almost 2000 years ago.