Vienne

VIENNE, the chief town of an arrondissement of the depart ment of the Isere, France. Pop. (1931) 21,748. Vienne stands on the left bank of the Rhone just below the junction of the Gere with the Rhone, between the river and low hills, and about 20 m. by rail S. of Lyons. Its site is an immense mass of ancient debris, which is constantly yielding interesting antiquities. On the bank of the Gere are traces of the ramparts of the old Roman city, and on the Mont Pipet (E. of the town) are the remains of an amphitheatre, while the ruined castle there was built in the 13th century on Roman substructures. Several of the ancient aqueducts (one only is now actually in use) are still to be seen.

Vienne, originally the capital of the Allobroges, became a Roman colony about 47 B.c. under Caesar, who embellished and fortified it. A little later these colonists were expelled by the Allo broges; the exiles then founded the colony of Lyons (Lugdunum). It was not till the days of Augustus and Tiberius that Vienne regained all its former privileges as a Roman colony. Later it became the capital of the Provincia Viennensis. In 257 Postumus was proclaimed emperor here, and for a few years Vienne was the capital of a short-lived provincial empire. It is said to have been converted to Christianity by Crescens, the disciple of St. Paul.

There were Christians here in 177, as in the Greek letter (pre served to us by Eusebius) addressed at that date by the churches of Vienne and Lyons to those of Asia and Phrygia mention is made of "the" deacon of Vienne. The first bishop certainly known is Verus, who was present at the Council of Arles in 354.

About 450 Vienne became an archbishopric and continued

one till 179o, when the see was suppressed. The archbishops disputed with those of Lyons the title of "Primate of All the Gauls." Vienne was conquered by the Burgundians in 438, and in 534 was taken by the Franks. Sacked in 558 by the Lombards and in 737 by the Saracens, the government of the district was given by Charles the Bald in 869 to a Count Boso, who in 879 was pro claimed king of Provence, and was buried in 887 in the cathedral church of St. Maurice. Vienne then continued to form part of the

kingdom of Provence or Arles till in 1032 it reverted to the Holy Roman Empire. Vienne was sacked in 1562 by the Protes tants under the baron des Adrets, and was held for the Ligue 1590-95, when it was taken by Montmorency. The fortifications were demolished between 1589 and 1636. In 1790 the archbish opric was abolished, the title "Primate of all the Gauls" being attributed to the archbishops of Lyons.

Ancient Monuments.

The town possesses two fine Roman monuments. One is the temple of Augusta and Livia, a building of the Corinthian order, built by the emperor Claudius, and in ferior only to the Maison Carree at Nimes. From the 5th century to 1793 it was a church (Notre Dame de Vie), and the "festival of reason" was celebrated in it at the time of the Revolution. The other is the Plan de l'Aiguille, a truncated quadrangular pyramid, about 52 ft. in height, resting on a portico with four arches; it is now generally believed to have been part of the spina of a large circus, the outlines of which have been traced. The church of St. Peter belonged to an ancient Benedictine abbey and was rebuilt in the 9th century, in the earliest Romanesque style. It has of late years been completely restored, and shelters the mag nificent Musee Lapidaire. The former cathedral church of St. Maurice (I I th to 16th centuries), has three aisles, but no apse or transepts. The most striking portion is the W. front (1533), which rises from a terrace overhanging the Rhone.

There are very important cloth factories and also distilleries, iron foundries, refining furnaces, etc. Vienne is the seat of a sub-prefect, of a tribunal of commerce, a chamber of commerce and a board of trade-arbitrators.