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Vaison-la-Romaine is one of the most fully excavated ancient cities because of the programme undertaken by the Canon Sautel at the beginning of the twentieth century, especially in the La Villasse and Le Puymin areas. A new perception of the organisation of the Puymin area can now be proposed: an early sanctuary (Pompey’s Porticus), similar to the Augusteum in Herculaneum and to the Eumachia Building in Pompeii, was located beside a processionnal way leading through a tunnel to the theatre and to the sanctuary built above it. Below, in the artisan district, a water mill can be identified, a rare example in Gaul of such an urban installation. This study reveals that religious and artisan activities were both practised in this part of the town.