Avenches – Roman Museum – Permanent Exhibition

Ground Floor – Introduction Switzerland in Roman Times
considerable damage, building activities were still ongoing in the 4 th century AD, in
particular fortification work around the theatre.
A large part of the population of Aventicum probably belonged to the tribe of
the Helvetii. The members of the local elite undoubtedly preserved their status;
they were the first to obtain Roman citizenship. These notables guaranteed both
the survival of Roman culture and the maintenance of a certain degree of political
stability.
Until the 6th century AD Avenches was a bishop’s see. In the 7th century AD the
town received the new name Wibili, which, later on, became Wiflisburg.
Interest in the archaeological remains of the Roman city of Avenches began to
arise in the 16th century. A few excavations were carried out from the 18th century
onwards (1), but systematic investigations only started with the foundation of the
Pro Aventico Association in 1885. The Roman museum was created in 1824. Since
1838, it has been installed in this medieval tower, which was built at the end of the
11th century on the remains of the Roman amphitheatre and using stones from that
monument.
The Roman Empire
Over a period of eight centuries, Rome created an empire from a small nucleus
founded in 753 BC. Around 300 BC, the conquest of Italy was achieved and by
around 50 BC large parts of Europe, the Near East and North Africa had been
annexed. In AD 117 the Empire had reached its zenith. Large sections of the Empire
were protected against incursions from neighbouring peoples by a network of
border fortifications (limes).
The Roman domination over the conquered territory was based on five pillars: a
strong army, an homogenous legislation, a common administration, one common
currency and one or – more precisely – two official languages, namely Latin in the
west and Greek in the east.
During the 3rd century AD the deterioration of the climatic conditions as well as
a number of economic and political upheavals marked the beginning of the decline,
which led to the fall of the Western Empire in AD 476.
However, Roman civilisation in Europe stayed very much alive for a further
thousand years. Until the 16th century Latin remained the common language of
educated people. Roman Law was the basis of quite a number of present-day legal
systems and, with a few slight adjustments, the Roman calendar is still in use today.
Switzerland in Roman Times
The territory of present-day Switzerland became part of the Roman Empire in 15 BC
at the latest and was integrated into five different provinces: The Grisons and a
large section of eastern Switzerland were part of Raetia, the Ticino and the southern
valleys of the Grisons belonged to Italia, the Valais to the Alpae Graiae et Poeninae,
1
Map of Avenches (J. C. Hagenbuch, 1727)
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Ground Floor
Introduction