page_title: Temple of Mercury (Puy de Dôme)
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Temple of Mercury (Puy de Dôme) / The Temple / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of reconstruction of the Mercurius temple (Puy-de-Dôme, France) by T. Désarménien. Preserved in the Bargoin museum in Clermont-Ferrand. Français&#160;: Essai de reconstitution du temple de Mercure (Puy-de-Dôme) par T. Désarménien. Conservé au musée Bargoin de Clermont-Ferrand.
context_page_description: The Temple of Mercury at Puy de Dôme is a Gallo-Roman trachyte temple built in the 2nd century at the summit of the dome. It replaced a 1st-century arkose temple on the same site, which was apparently too small to accommodate the many pilgrims who visited. Its remains were revealed by excavation campaigns in 1875 and at the turn of the century.
context_section_description: The 2nd-century temple was built on a strong terrace, a quadrilateral with 60 meter sides allowing it to compensate the slope of the ground descending from North to South. Its façade looked East towards the Limagne plain where Augustonemetum was located and, weather permitting, it could be seen from the city. The temple was built with local trachyte, assembled in large blocks for the visible parts, with filling made up of smaller trachyte blocks. The raw material was extracted near the Ceyssat pass, located at the foot of the Puy de Dôme, but the decoration called on other types of stone with more distant origins—white and colored marbles for the pavements, Autun shales, and arkose column capitals, for example. Bronze was also used. Fragments of the paving are visible at the Bargoin museum in Clermont-Ferrand. In all, the building filled an area of around 3,600 m².
  The actual plan of the temple was a hybrid, an intermediate between Celtic and Mediterranean traditions. Thus the sanctuary included a cella as found in the fana of Celtic tradition, fronted by a Mediterranean pronaos. This cella and pronaos ensemble was located at the top of a series of terraces, intended to punctuate and dramatize the visitor's journey.
  Thus the pilgrim, after a steep climb from the Ceyssat pass, and perhaps devotions made at the chapels along the path, would arrive upon a terrace that rose up in tiers and was occupied by altars and statues. From this theater, which could be used for specific ceremonies, the pilgrim would then take a passage that led to the eastern terrace overlooking Augustonemetum and the plain of Limagne. From there, one could access the pronaos and perform devotions in front of and around the cella. A gift might have been made to the god, which, if precious, would have been stored in the nearby treasure room of the temple, located between the two terraces.
caption: Proposed reconstruction (although there is no remaining evidence of the temple's roof design).
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