In Chalon sur Saone like in Anse, many splendid Roman villae were decorated with amazing Roman mosaics.
A Travel and Design guide to the Roman mosaics in Chalon sur Saone
This 3rd chapter of my Travel and Design Guide to Roman mosaics in France describes them.
Some of these beauties survived frost, indifference or loot; you can visit them at the Musee Denon.
Others have vanished since they were discovered, but we still have descriptions and drawings of them, buried under tons of materials in ancient archives ! And I found them for you !
The guide can be downloaded for free here : Roman_mosaics_in_Chalon_sur_Saone
It is not an academic piece, some people are better than me at doing that ! So I added a few things about local history, gastronomy, and of course many of my own pictures and drawings of these patterns and figures used by the antic mosaicists.
Between 1840 and 1897, a total of 230 square meters (2500 sq ft) were discovered paving 2 villae on each side of the Saone river. Today, 3.5 square meters (less than 40 sq ft) are left to see at the Musee Denon. The worst enemies of Roman mosaics are humidity and frost. Second worst are humans who sell, loot, or sell them. I provide a few details in the article. We can be very thankful to the artists who recorded what was found at the times of the discoveries !
