What they are
The Grand Théâtre was built into the slope of Fourvière early in the Empire, possibly under Augustus, and enlarged at the end of the first century or the start of the second, when it could hold up to 10,000 people.
Beside it stands the Odéon, a smaller roofed hall of the late first or early second century, for up to about 3,000 — music, readings, meetings. ⭐ A theatre and an odeon together are rare anywhere in the Roman world; in Gaul only Vienne, down the Rhône, has the same pair.
Lost and found
After Rome, both were used as quarries, stripped of their stone and finally buried; by the Middle Ages they had been forgotten. The theatre was identified by chance at the end of the nineteenth century and cleared and restored from 1933.
Getting it right
⭐ The theatres still work. In summer they hold the Nuits de Fourvière festival, and watching anything from those stone seats is the reason to plan ahead — see Booking Ahead.
The site is part of the Lugdunum museum, built into the hill right beside it.
