The story of this place
Around AD 50 the Romans made Aventicum the capital of the Helvetii, and under Emperor Vespasian—whose father had lived here—it flourished into a city of perhaps 20,000 people, ringed by 5.5 kilometres of walls and boasting an amphitheatre for 16,000 spectators, a forum, baths and temples. Alemannic raids in the 3rd century broke its prosperity, and the great city dwindled to a village. Today the amphitheatre, the lone standing Corinthian column called 'Le Cigognier,' and a fine museum recall the largest Roman city ever built on Swiss soil, where a gold bust of Marcus Aurelius was famously unearthed.