Bavay Ancient Forum

The Forum Antique de Bavay, the department's archaeological museum, is the largest Roman forum ever excavated in France. The construction project involved building a roof to permanently protect the archaeological site. The roof covers the entire cryptoporticus and the walls and also serves as weather protection for visitors to the museum.

The roof, whose shape was adapted to the geometry of the ancient forum, is 48 metres long and 8 metres high, it covers 6400 m² of roof area and is supported by 33 columns. The elements of the roof were prefabricated and brought to the construction site using lifting equipment. The project was designed to be fully reversible.