Jublains travel guide

Visit Jublains (Pays de la Loire, France)

Jublains is a small village situated towards the north of the Mayenne department in the Pays-de-la-Loire region of France, and not far from the town of Mayenne. It is best known as the site of an important ancient settlement, of which important parts can still be seen.

Jublains gallic and Roman site

The site was first established by a gallic tribe called the Diablintes, then later re-occupied by the ancient romans after they had conquered the region, at which time it was called Noeodunum (or Noviodunum).

There is unfortunately nothing to see of the original gallic village because that would have been constructed in wood. The extensive ruins we see today all date from the roman period, when it became an important regional centre.

At Jublains you can clearly distinguish the remains of several important buildings including:

the roman theatre, still used for summer spectacles
the temple, built to replace an earlier wooden temple, which was the centre of the original gallic village);
a substantial fortress, now thought to have originally been a defended storage space rather than a defensive encampment;
the thermal baths which can be seen beneath the church in the village

If you only have time to visit one of the roman monuments in Jublains it should be the fortress - you might have seen more complete temples and amphitheatres elsewhere in France, but the fortress at Jublains is the most complete that I remember seeing. The substantial building was more than 10000 square metres, and had large towers at each corner and elsewhere in the walls.

You access the ruins of the fortress through the Archaeological Museum at Jublains, which presents artefacts both discovered at the site and in the region to explain the history of Mayenne. Take the time to look around the museum, which contains some very interesting artefacts including busts, carvings, ornaments and mosaics.

Note: photo of Jublains is copyright

Attractions nearby

Although it is true to say that Jublains is not in one of the most visited regions of France, we do suggest that visitors also find the time to explore the town centre of Mayenne and also to take a stroll around the village of Sainte-Suzanne to the south-east of here.

You can find more travel ideas in the Mayenne guide and the Pays de la Loire guide.