The basilica of Bibracte -: Early evidence of Roman architecture in Central Gaul

The basilica of Bibracte - Early evidence of Roman architecture in Central Gaul The first result of the excavations undertaken in 1988 by the Eotvos Lorand University of Budapest was the exploration of the main road of Bibracte in the zone called >>Pature du Couvent<<. In 1996 research continued in the centre of the >>I'ilot des Grandes Forges<< just next to the eastern side of the road with the excavation of a large building complex dating to the reign of Augustus. Since 2000 research has focused on the buildings earlier than the domus and a late Republican basilica with internal porticus and lateral ambulatories has been unearthed. It forms a unit with a joining small rectangular forum. The study of the ceramic finds suggests a dating for the basilical complex to the period between 50 and 30 B.C. The basilica of Bibracte presents a Roman plan from pre-Vitruvian times in the centre of Gaul which (with its internal disposition of 4x8 columns) formed the basis for the development of the Vitruvian basilica. At present the basilica of Bibracte is the earliest known certain evidence of its building type in the western Roman world.