Sidon Mithraeum, Ancient religious shrine in Sidon, Lebanon.
The Sidon Mithraeum is an ancient religious site with statues and objects that were buried beneath a Greek church in Lebanon. The collection displays representations of Mithras and his companion figures from the Roman period.
An archaeologist uncovered this site at the end of the 1800s beneath a church and transferred the major artworks to France. The original location has since been covered over by later construction.
The statues reveal how worshippers in Roman times honored their gods through ritual and ceremony. You can see through the artworks the roles that each figure played in these religious practices.
The collection is on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where the objects are presented in a dedicated space. The artworks are shown alongside other ancient artifacts in the museum's collection.
The original excavation site now lies beneath a car park in Lebanon, while the most valuable pieces are preserved thousands of kilometers away in a Paris museum. This reflects how ancient treasures often ended up far from where they were first discovered.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
