Roman Columns of Colonia Iulia Equestris (Nyon, Switzerland)

Name of the site: Roman Columns – Esplanade des Marronniers

Place: Nyon, Switzerland

Period: Roman Empire (Approx. 1st century CE)

What I love about it: Unexpected columns in a beautiful site with a view of the lake.

Recommended visit? Definitely worth exploring during a stroll after visiting the Roman Museum and the castle.

Visit date: 8 November 2025

A day trip to visit a friend I hadn’t seen in three years took me to a beautiful site in Nyon, just 15 minutes from Geneva. I’d been to the city before to see the Roman Museum (in its interesting 1970s underground-bunker-style building) and then the 12th-century Nyon Castle, but I hadn’t come accross these styles. A friend took my friend, my boyfriend and I there, and it was a stunning view.

Modern Nyon stands on Noviodunum (which is a name of Gallic origins), a bourg of Colonia Iulia Equestris, founded by Julius Caesar between 46 and 44 BC. Its creation is connected to a busy chapter in history, the early Caesar’s campaigns during the Gallic Wars. At the time, the region of what is now Switzerland was inhabited by the Helvetii, a confederation of Celtic tribes.

Around 61 BCE, the Helvetii, led by Orgetorix, started a mass migration toward western Gaul. Sources mention that before leaving, they set fire on their settlements, apparently quite determined to never come back. The reasons for this migration are still debated, and some hypotheses include pressure from Germanic tribes, or limited agricultural resources due to the restrictive geography of their homeland, surrounded by mountains.

Whatever their motivation, the plan collapsed at Bibracte, a major Gallic center in modern France, where Caesar defeated them and ordered the entire population back to their original territory.

Quite a long trip, they must have been very frustrated.

Back in their homeland against their wishes the Romans tightened their grip on the region. It’s in this context that Colonia Iulia Equestris came into being, and that’s why today we can come across cool Roman ruins around Nyon (cool, but also a symbol of the ruthless and limitless roman imperialism…).

The modern city of Nyon overlaps almost perfectly with the Roman settlement beneath it, so it’s no surprise that new pieces of the ancient city still appear from time to time. The amphitheatre, for example, was only discovered in 1996, proof that much of Roman Nyon is still hiding under today’s streets.

Archeodunum SA; Monuments historiques et archéologie Vaud © 1998 DHS et Kohli cartographie, Berne. (https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/012283/2005-08-03)

Their current scenic location was not where they original construction place. The 1st-century CE columns and the architrave that now overlook Lake Léman once belonged to the cryptoporticus of the sacred area of Nyon’s second Roman forum, built around 50 AD. They were found under Rue Delafléchère and moved to their current viewpoint in 1958 for the celebration of Nyon’s 2000 years of history.

Not a bad retirement spot for ruins.