Vienne

Related Category: French Political Geography

town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (then Vienna) became one of the chief cities of Roman Gaul, one of the first archiepiscopal sees (suppressed in 1790), and the seat of several kings of Burgundy (5th–9th cent.; see under Burgundy). A council held there abolished (1312) the Knights Templars. Rich in Roman remains, Vienne has the temple of Augustus and Livia (c.25 B.C.), which rivals the Maison Carrée of Nîmes; a 1st-century theater and temple of the goddess Cybele are thought to be the remains of a Greek colony. The Church of St. Pierre (partly 6th cent.), the Church of St. André-le-Bas (12th cent.), and the Church of St. Maurice (12th–16th cent.) are also of interest.