Porte Saint-André

No other city in Gaul or Italy has such a well-preserved Roman gate complex as Autun. Its architecture is similar to that of the Porte d'Arroux, but it has undergone numerous restorations, notably by Viollet-le-Duc. Free visit.

Like the Porte d'Arroux, the Porte Saint-André still has four passages at road level, two large central bays for the circulation of carts and two smaller openings in line with the pavements. On the first floor, a gallery pierced by ten arcades corresponds to the extension at gate level of the covered way located at the top of the urban enclosure.

This central part, pierced with openings, is built from large quadrangular limestone blocks from the Chalonnaise region. It was initially flanked by two horseshoe-shaped towers, the rounding facing the countryside, built from small rectangular sandstone blocks. It was a way of leaving Augustodunum and heading east towards Langres and Besançon, the respective capitals of the neighbouring Lingon and Sekanese peoples.

During the Middle Ages, a church under the patronage of Saint Andrew (a patronage which gave the monument its name) was installed in the northern flanking tower. This medieval reoccupation allowed the conservation of the infrastructure, which now houses a Protestant temple.

Researchers generally agree that the St Andrew's Gate was built in the 1st century AD, a few decades after the Arroux Gate. Restructuring of the upper gallery with sandstone blocks could date from late antiquity and the period of the invasions.
The building was restored in 1844 by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and then classified as a historical monument in 1846.

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