Ancient theater of Alauna

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The ancient theatre of Alauna is a Roman-era performance building located in the French commune of Valognes, in the Manche department. The monument belongs to the group of arena theatres whose layout differs from that of classical Roman theatres and allows the holding of diverse shows. Built in small limestone rubble of local origin, its diameter exceeds 72 m.

Its semicircular cellara and elliptical orchestraa are served by five radiant vomitories and two corridors along the stage wall. The decumanus maximus of the ancient agglomeration of Alauna passes to the top of the cellara, at the price of a change in its route. Placed on the eastern limits of the city, it is probably built in the second half of the first century and abandoned towards the end of the third century, after which its masonries are dismantled and recovered until the contemporary era.

Its remains are buried at a shallow depth under meadows of grove hedges, part of its enclosure wall being visible in elevation in one of these hedges. It was studied several times in 1695, in the mid-1840s, then as part of a program...