It included both the Interpretation Centre in the valley (just completed) and an Archaeological Museum on the hillside, still to be constructed. The programme for the Muséo Parc at Alésia had to cater to both education and mass tourism.
The base to the statue, incidentally, was designed by Viollet Le Duc.Īerial view of the Centre and its setting However he was recuperated in Gallic nationalist mythology as a hero of the French people and in the 1860s a huge statue was erected near Alise-Sainte-Reine (north of Dijon) portraying the defeated warrior as a muscular but somehow benign giant with long hair and a flowing moustache.
In the final battle Caesar had to face enemies from within and without but his legions held the day and Vercingétorix finally surrendered. Vercingétorix had already dealt Caesar a major blow at the earlier battle of Gergovie (not far from the present day Clermont Ferrand) and had withdrawn to the hill top ‘oppidum’ of Alésia to consolidate his revolt and guarantee protection from all sides.Ĭaesar describes how he constructed two rings of fortifications including ditches, ramparts and timber towers, one ring facing inwards towards the besieged enemy, the other facing outwards to repel relief forces who eventually arrived in vast numbers. It was here that he finally defeated the confederacy of Gallic tribes under the leadership of Vercingétorix, chief of the Averni, so guaranteeing Roman dominance in Gaul for the succeeding centuries. In his Commentari de Bello Gallico Julius Caesar describes in great detail the siege and battle of Alésia which took place in September 52 BC. Bernard Tschumi’s Interpretation Centre memorializes a Gallic hero with a resoundingly empty space
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