Vienne - Temple of Augustus and Livia

The oppidum of the Celtic Alobroges became a Roman colony about 47 BC under Julius Caesar, but the Allobroges managed to expel the Romans. The exiles moved north and founded the colony of Lugdunum (today's Lyon). During the early Empire, Vienna regained all its former privileges as a Roman colony. The city flourished and became the second capital of southern Gaul during the Roman Empire.

The first Christians lived in Vienne around 100 AD. In the 3rd century, the city became a bishopric. After the death of the childless last Burgundian king Rudolf III. Vienne fell in 1032 to the German king Conrad II and thus to the Holy Roman Empire. In the 12th century, Vienne became the capital of the Dauphiné. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Vienne experienced an economic boom, numerous houses were built in the half-timbered style of the time, and the cathedral was completed. During the Wars of Religion, the city was fought over and frequently looted.

The Roman temple was dedicated to the imperial cult, to honor Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia. It has two states of construction. The original building was built in the last quarter of the 1st century BC. Following the scholars, a partial reconstruction would have taken place a few decades later and the capitals were carved around the middle of the 1st century.

With the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Christianization, the temple became the parish church of Sainte-Marie-la-Vieille then Notre-Dame-de-la-Vie until the French Revolution. From 1792, the church became the temple of Reason, then the commercial court of Vienne, then the museum and the library of Vienne (until 1852), and finally, after 28 years of work, the building regained its original aspect of a Roman temple.