Mithréum de Bourg-Saint-Andéol

TNMM 62 ↔ CIMRM 895

A rock, situated not far to the West of Bourg-Saint-Andéol.

From various, often unreliable and scarce data, we may yet safely accept, that it really is the back-part of a Mithraeum. The rockface, in which the relief has been chiseled out forms the back-wall of the sanctuary, which lies against the mountain. Above the relief two grooves are hewn out, creating the impression, that the roof had been fitted into them. Of the sanctuary itself nothing was found back. At the foot of the rock, there are two fountains, the water of which pours out into two basins. Between the springs there were, according to Caylus, 'les restes d'une table d'autel formée par le roc'.

1.30 meters long and 1.15 meters high, it is the only bas-relief directly sculpted in the rock that can be seen in France. In the 3rd century, this bas-relief was indeed the back of a temple, Mithraeum, which went all the way to the riverside. The bas-relief was to be demolished in 1880, when the railroad was built, but priest Paradis was strongly opposed to this decision. He managed to have it preserved and protected.

Comments

Raymond HUGUES

La construction du viaduc du chemin de fer en 1874 condamnait une grotte appelée 'la grotte aux fées' située à proximité ainsi que le bas-relief. La grotte a été détruite mais le bas-relief sauvé grâce à l'abbé Frédéric Paradis Curé de l'église Ste Marguerite à Paris et à Henri Revoil, architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques.