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Hidden gem1st – 3rd c. ADFree

Pierre Pertuis

Petra pertusa, Col de Pierre Pertuis

road · Bernese Jura, Bern, Switzerland

What it is
Pierre Pertuis is a natural rock arch in the Jura near Tavannes, in the canton of Bern, that the Romans widened to take their road between Aventicum (Avenches) and Augusta Raurica; the old road still runs through it, under a Latin inscription cut into the rock about 1,800 years ago naming the official responsible for the road (HLS; fr.wikipedia).
What you’ll see
The passage is a short tunnel through the rock with a well-preserved Latin inscription (fr.wikipedia). It is a natural opening that was artificially enlarged, and it lies about 300 m north of the top of the pass (de.wikipedia).
Worth the trip?
Yes, if you are in the Bernese Jura: a Roman road still passing through a rock arch, under the Roman inscription that records the work, is not something you see every day, and it costs nothing.
Getting there & cost
The passage is on the Tavannes side of the Col de Pierre Pertuis, the pass between Sonceboz and Tavannes, and the river Birse rises at the foot of the pass (de.wikipedia, fr.wikipedia).Free · No charge is published or mappedHours, tickets and parking
A gravel lane curving through a broad natural arch in a grey rock cliff, with a rectangular panel cut into the rock face above the opening and spring woodland beyond.
The old road through the pierced rock, with the inscription above the opening. · Photo: Oblic · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Roman capital letters cut into a smoothed panel of rough grey rock, picked out in red paint, some lines broken where the stone has flaked.
The Roman inscription naming Marcus Dunius Paternus. · Photo: Oblic · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A narrow paved lane climbing through beech woods towards a low natural rock arch, with daylight showing through the opening.
The approach from the south. · Photo: Oblic · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

The passage is a short tunnel through the rock with a well-preserved Latin inscription (fr.wikipedia). It is a natural opening that was artificially enlarged, and it lies about 300 m north of the top of the pass (de.wikipedia). The inscription is cut into the rock on the north side above the opening and measures 159 by 96 cm (HLS; fr.wikipedia). Photographs show a gravel lane passing under a broad arch in a grey rock face, the inscription in a smoothed panel with its letters picked out in red, and a metal plaque giving its text with a French translation (Wikimedia Commons).

The inscription reads, in translation: “To the divinity of the emperors: this road was made by Marcus Dunius Paternus, duumvir of the colony of the Helvetii” (the plaque on site; fr.wikipedia, CIL XIII 5166). The colony was Aventicum, today’s Avenches (HLS; the plaque).

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, if you are in the Bernese Jura: a Roman road still passing through a rock arch, under the Roman inscription that records the work, is not something you see every day, and it costs nothing. It is a single short stop rather than a site to spend time in.

Getting there

The passage is on the Tavannes side of the Col de Pierre Pertuis, the pass between Sonceboz and Tavannes, and the river Birse rises at the foot of the pass (de.wikipedia, fr.wikipedia). The present road over the pass (Route de Pierre-Pertuis) runs about 20 m away, gravel tracks pass through and beside the arch, and signposts named “Pierre Pertuis” and “Source de la Birse” are mapped 13 m and 140 m away (OpenStreetMap). No car park or public-transport stop is mapped within 300 m. The site is open countryside, and no source publishes hours or a charge.

Visiting details

Opening hours
Open countryside; a track runs through the passage, and no source publishes hours or restrictions.
Tickets
No charge is published or mapped.

Before you go

  • No car park or public-transport stop is mapped within 300 m (OpenStreetMap).

History

The Roman road led from Petinesca up to the pass through the natural opening in the rock, which gave the pass its name, petra pertusa, “the pierced stone”; archaeological surveys suggest the road dates from the second half of the 1st century (HLS). The inscription, carved around 200, probably records the repair and widening of the existing road and the enlargement of the opening rather than the first building of the road (HLS); other published accounts put it in the 3rd century (de.wikipedia, fr.wikipedia). A 15th-century legend credits Julius Caesar with cutting the passage, but no ancient source supports it (fr.wikipedia).

The road over the pass went through the rock until the early 20th century. During the mobilisation of 1914–1918 army engineers built a road for motor traffic that avoids the old tunnel, a new road built by unemployed workers opened in 1932, and since November 1997 the A16 motorway has crossed the mountain in a tunnel 2,100 m long (de.wikipedia, fr.wikipedia). The national inventory lists the passage and its inscription as a cultural property of national significance (KGS 9580).

More photographs

A metal plaque screwed to the rock giving the Latin text of the inscription in capitals, with a French translation below.
The plaque with the inscription's text and a French translation. · Photo: Oblic · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

  • A small oval arena of mown grass enclosed by a low curved stone wall with an entrance gap, set in parkland with autumn trees and hills on the horizon.

    Photo: Victrixt · CC BY 3.0 · Commons

    33 km · amphitheatre · Bern-Mittelland District, Bern

    Engehalbinsel

    The canton's archaeology service maintains a signposted trail whose Roman highlights are "the so-called arena" and the Roman baths (the operator).

  • A sanded oval arena ringed by a low stone wall, with tiers of seating rising on the left and a square stone tower with a red tile roof standing over an arched entrance on the far side.

    Photo: Nursangaion · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    39 km · city · Broye-Vully District, Vaud

    Aventicum

    The ruins are not one enclosure but a set of monuments spread through the town and the fields beyond it.

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Wikidata Q110271463CC0
OpenStreetMap node/1479980936ODbL
Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz — Pierre-Pertuis (Martin Bossert)licence not recorded
KGS inventory 9580 — Pierre Pertuis, passage taillé dans la roche avec inscription romaine (BABS)licence not recorded
Wikipedia (fr) — Col de Pierre PertuisCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (de) — Col de Pierre PertuisCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikidata — Col de Pierre Pertuis, the pass (Q670928)licence not recorded