Located between Puy-en-Velay and Chaise-Dieu, Saint-Paulien is the cradle of Velay. The Vellavian capital of Antiquity, Ruessio, founded in the 2000st century under the reign of Augustus. A city that has gone through the ages until today, rich in XNUMX years of history et which earned it its label of Small City of Character.
Saint-Paulien, Gallo-Roman capital of Velay preserves a buried archaeological heritage that testifies to human occupation at different times: from iron age whose remains stand on the Gallic oppidum located above the Rochelambert castle, and to the period Gallo-Roman, where the city was the capital of the people of the Vellaves.
Baptized Saint-Paulien
in the twelfth century
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the inhabitants of Ruessio then gathered on a castle mound, on which they erected castles and enclosure. The medieval town baptized Saint-Paulien in the XNUMXth century will be built around theSt. George's Church to gradually transform into the city we know today.
Under the guidance of archaeologists, scheduled excavations have taken place each year, on the oppidum and in a plot north of the city. On these two sites, they brought new knowledge on the past of the municipality.
The Michel POMARAT archaeological museum de Saint-Paulien also leads the visitor through the eras and the remains from the soil of the former capital of the Vellaves people by means of an audio-guide with the voice of an archaeologist.
