The mausoleum of Lanuéjols is a Gallo-Roman funerary monument located in the commune of Lanuéjols, in the French department of Lozère (Occitania region).
It was built on the model of a mausoleum-temple in the second half of the 2nd century AD by a wealthy family who certainly lived nearby. Dedicated to the memory of two of the family's sons, it is also known as the "Mausolée des Pomponii", after the wealthy family, and in Occitan as "Lou Mazelet". Although this is the best-known monument in Lanuéjols, it is part of a funerary complex that also includes an altar, in front of which funerary or commemorative ceremonies were probably held, and a third, non-visible building, probably even larger than the Pomponii mausoleum, which may have been the parents' tomb.
The mausoleum's particular topographical location has led to its partial burial on several occasions under the sediment left by a stream in the surrounding terrain, necessitating several excavations. The mausoleum, listed as a protected historic monument in 1840, was the subject of several excavation campaigns in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Geographical and historical context
In modern times, Lanuéjols, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Mende, appears to have been a small secondary settlement in the center of the civitas des Gabali. However, it is not yet clear whether this was a secondary settlement, probably small in size but grouping together several settlements, or a villa belonging to a single estate. Lanuéjols may have been crossed by an ancient road running from Javols to Bagnols-les-Bains via the Mende site, an area rich in galena deposits that were exploited from this period onwards. In addition to the funerary complex and its mausoleum, the ancient remains identified at Lanuéjols include a necropolis used from the High Roman Empire to the Early Middle Ages, several remains of unidentified buildings and a large number of finds (architectural elements, some of which were used in more recent buildings in the area, coins, ceramic shards) scattered over several sites.
The ancient site of Pré de Clastres, on the banks of the Gravière stream, lies at the bottom of the Valdonnez valley, between the Causse de Mende to the north and Mont Lozère to the southeast. The mausoleum's orientation, from northeast to southwest, respects that of the valley in which it is built. The presence of the creek's alluvial fan and the location of the burial site, five meters below the surrounding land, explain why the mausoleum is periodically invaded by sediment, sometimes to a height of several meters; paradoxically, this layout probably protected it from atmospheric aggression and looting.
The large mausoleum at Lanuéjols is sometimes referred to locally as "Lou Mazelet", which in Occitan means a small house or farmhouse (mas).
Studies, excavations and restoration
The mausoleum of Lanuéjols is mentioned in a notarial act dating from 1254, which is accompanied by a very brief description of the building, whose construction is attributed to the "Saracens" (a term to be interpreted in the broad sense of pagans). In the 18th century, it was recognized by the ecclesiastic L'Ouvreleul as a "Roman tomb" supposedly belonging to Lucius Munatius Plancus, and it is under this name that it appears on sheet 55 of the Cassini map. An initial transcription of the inscription engraved on the door lintel was made in 1784; it demonstrated the funerary nature of the monument, but invalidated its attribution to Plancus.
In 1805, faced with the risk of the mausoleum being dismantled by the owner of the land, who had acquired it as national property and wished to recover the stones, the State intervened to buy the plot and the building. In 1813, the funerary complex was cleared of the three-meter-thick sediments that covered it, and in 1840, the monument known as the "Roman tomb" was included on the first list of protected French historic monuments. Left untouched, the mausoleum was again buried under alluvial deposits until 1855, when excavations began. A plan drawn up in 1860 mentions another building, but this work was poorly documented and the remains were soon buried under the alluvium. In 1881, the foundations of a third monument, probably an altar, were uncovered a few dozen meters southwest of the Pomponii mausoleum.