Mont Beuvray is located in the southern section of Burgundy, a region of eastern France. This imposing mountain, now covered in 1,000 hectares of quiet forest, was once the capital city of an ancient Celtic people, the Aedui. At the end of the Iron Age (in the second and first centuries B.C.), the major Celtic fortified city (Oppida) of Bibracte stood on Mont Beuvray. Surrounded by two vast sets of stone ramparts over 5 miles around, Bibracte was the capital of one of the most powerful peoples in Gaul.
It was here that Vercingetorix was proclaimed head of the Gallic coalition against Rome in the year 52 B.C. It was also here that Julius Caesar, victor in his battle with Vercengetorix and the Gauls at nearby Alesia, completed the writing of his famed Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Bibracte was a major political, economic, and production center measuring over 200 hectares within its two sets of ramparts. A few decades after the Roman conquest, Bibracte was abandoned in favor of a new city, Augustodunum Aedorum (now Autun), 25 kilometers away on the Arroux River. The location of Bibracte was eventually lost to history, until Jacques-Gabriel Bulliot (1817-1902) conducted the first archaeological excavations and determined that this was the long lost city of Bibracte. It was made a National Historical Monument in 1985.
Now archaeologists and researchers from throughout Europe are participating in a major archaeological research program here. Come and join them by taking our virtual tour of the mountain.
This virtual tour uses IPIX Virtual Reality technology. You will need to get the free plug-in to view the IPIX images. You can learn more about how IPIX works here.
You can click here to begin your virtual tour at the museum (and visit each place in turn), or click on a place name or text on either the map or aerial photo below to see the view from that location.
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