Ancient Gallic wall found near Notre-Dame could help trace Paris’s origins

24 Sep 2026 • 4:26 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Ancient Gallic wall found near Notre-Dame could help trace Paris’s origins

  • Archaeologists have unearthed the charred remains of a 20-metre-long ancient Gallic wall near Notre-Dame in Paris.
  • The discovery could provide the first physical evidence of Lutèce, an ancient Gallic town cited by Julius Caesar upon whose ruins Paris was built.
  • Historical sources record that the Parisii tribe set fire to their fortified settlement in 52 BC to stop an invading Roman army from capturing it.
  • Further excavations revealed signs of the remains of a wooden building destroyed by fire in front of the wall structure, with early results dating the wooden elements of the wall to between 200BC and 10BC.
  • "We are perhaps facing one of the most important vestiges ever discovered to understand the Gallic Lutèce,” said Catherine Pégard, the French minister of culture.

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