Porte d'Arroux

Dating from the early 1st century AD, this gateway opened to the north, at the end of the cardo maximus (the road running from north to south). It has two large arcades for vehicles and two smaller ones for pedestrians. Free admission.

No other city in Gaul or Italy has such a well-preserved collection of Roman gates as Autun. Three of the four monumental gates are still partially visible.
Like the Porte Saint-André, the Porte d'Arroux still has four passageways at road level, two large central openings for carts and two smaller openings aligned with the pavements. On the first floor, a gallery pierced by ten arcades is the extension, at gate level, of the walkway located at the top of the urban enclosure. A groove in the vaulting of the central bays allowed the passage of a portcullis, the mechanism for which was located inside the arcaded gallery. Recent archaeological research has demonstrated the existence of an inner courtyard and a second facade on the town side, as attested by gates in Gaul (Nîmes, Toulouse) and Italy (Turin, Aosta). Today, nothing remains of this lock-like device, which was used to control the flow of people and goods and to collect taxes. Some researchers speculate that this device may also have been present at the other gates, although there is no proof of this.
The central part, with its openings, was built from large quadrangular limestone blocks from the Chalonnais region, with the exception of the bases of the grey arkose courses from the Antully plateau. The finely carved capitals, fluted pilasters and modillion cornices are in an excellent state of preservation. The bays were originally flanked by two horseshoe-shaped towers, with the rounded ends facing the countryside, built from small rectangular sandstone blocks. Unlike the Saint-André gate, nothing remains of these flanking towers.
This gateway was built during the reign of Augustus, and was one of the first buildings to be constructed at the time of the foundation of Augustodunum, which bears the emperor's name. It stands at the end of the main street known as "cardo maximus", which marks the passage into the urban area of the great Roman road known as the Ocean, linking Lyon to Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais). Passing under the Porte d'Arroux, you leave the city on your way to Sens, the capital of the neighbouring Sénons people.
The gateway has been a listed historic monument since 1846.

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