Tomb of Turpio

Roman Site in Lyon

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Balandras

The Tomb of Turpio is a Roman funerary monument discovered in 1885 during clearance work in Lyon’s Saint-Just district. It is part of a group of ten tombs originally aligned along the Aquitaine Way, a Roman road connecting Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon) to the provinces of Aquitaine and Boulogne. These tombs were associated with the ancient Trion necropolis, one of several burial areas that surrounded the city during antiquity.

At the time of their discovery, five of the larger tombs were carefully dismantled and reassembled nearby in Place Eugène-Wernert, while others were lost during construction work. Among the surviving monuments are:

A triple mausoleum combining the tombs of Julius Severianus, Quintus Valerius, and a tomb attributed to Julia
The mausoleum of Satrius
And the mausoleum of Turpio, which is the best preserved of the group

The Mausoleum of Turpio consists of a solid square base measuring nearly 4 meters on each side and rising to a preserved height of 5.8 meters. Each corner features a fluted pilaster topped with an Ionic capital, and part of a decorative frieze and cornice is still visible on one face. Based on comparisons with similar Roman tombs—such as those in Beaucaire and Glanum—this structure likely supported a lighter superstructure, possibly a colonnade sheltering a statue of the deceased.

Constructed from “Pierre du Midi,” a soft limestone commonly used in Lyon during the early 1st century AD, the tomb showcases the typical craftsmanship of the time. This local stone was later replaced by “Pierre de Seyssel” in later Roman construction. Together with the other preserved monuments, the Tomb of Turpio offers a rare and tangible link to Lyon’s Roman-era funerary traditions.

The Tomb of Turpio appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Lyon!

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