Kenneth Weissberg holds what he says is the definitive book on the Roman history in the French town of Entrains-sur-Nohain, where he hails from, inside Anne’s Crepes on Broadway in Saranac Lake. Entrains is Saranac Lake’s sister city in Europe and Weissberg was excited to visit the stateside sister city during a Winter Carnival with a Roman theme. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — With this year’s Winter Carnival theme, “Roman around Carnival,” the Eternal City is on everyone’s minds, but the Roman Empire at one time occupied all of Europe and beyond — including Saranac Lake’s French sister city, Entrains-sur-Nohain — where Roman artifacts are still being discovered.

Inside her creperie on Broadway Friday morning, Anne Sterling Alsina spoke with Kenneth Weissberg, who is visiting from Entrains.

The basement of his home there is Roman-built. All around the town he said there are Roman arches, ancient spas and archeological sites where farming tools, clay pots and sculptures are still being discovered.

Most of the foundation of Entrains were built by Romans, he said.

Weissberg grew up in Paris but has lived in Entrains for around 40 years now after vacationing there as a child. His family has also been visiting Saranac Lake for decades and owns the building Sterling Alsina’s business, Anne’s Crepes, is in. Weissberg’s father and former Saranac Lake Mayor Bill Madden twinned the two sister cities in 1989, tying the two together.

“It’s the most direct tie Saranac Lake has with Rome,” Sterling Alsina said. “The two towns are similar in so many fun ways.”

Entrains-sur-Nohain used to have a population of 10,000, much like Saranac Lake had, and now, both are smaller. There are around 1,000 residents in Entrains now, Weissberg said.

Back in the day, it was bustling with a population of 25,000 to 50,000 as a military hub for the Romans.

It took centuries for Rome to expand its empire. Nations back then did not have strict borders, solitary languages or individual populations. In France, Romans came into opposition with French tribes.

Entrains was a stronghold for the Roman army in France, with many soldiers there.

Entrains never had the big Roman coliseums that other French cities had, but it was an important place. Many of the Roman buildings have been destroyed over the centuries, but their foundations and anything that was buried with age remains in the ground.

Wherever digging is done, there’s the potential of finding artifacts.

“If you ask for permits to build a house it instantly triggers an inspection by the regional administration for protection of artifacts,” Weissberg said.

These inspectors dig and search for months, at enormous costs to find and excavate any artifacts before any building can begin.

Apollo was the god of the region. There’s a statue found in Entrains of Apollo, which stands around two yards tall. Weissberg has seen it in person.

“It’s huge … despite the fact that the face is a little bit used up,” he said.

But this statue has been removed from where it was found and is now in a museum in Paris. Weissberg said there’s a desire to return it to Entrains where it came from, as with many other artifacts taken from their original homes.

There are a number of large museums on Roman history in the area and one “small, quaint” one in Entrains itself, Weissberg said, with sculptures, coins and clay pots found around town.

Weissberg said he thought about bringing something Roman for Carnival.

“But the Romans built everything in stone, so it’s kind of heavy to carry around,” he said with a laugh.

He loved the Carnival theme this year.

“It is a very clever idea and it matches well,” Weissberg said.

The people in the Entrains region were pretty religious, he said, but not welcoming to Christianity for a long time.

An archbishop from the city of Auxerre — around 30 miles outside Entrains — came to spread the gospel several decades after the death of Christ.

The people living in Entrains at the time were not receptive. They felt the archbishop was lacking in respect to Apollo, Weissberg said. He was crucified on a hill outside town, at a site where a little church now stands. The archbishop became a saint — Saint Pellerin. Nearby, Weissberg said a spring is said to have supernatural powers at the exact location where his crucifixion was supposed to have happened.

In the Middle Ages, Entrains became a walled city at the center of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, which Weissberg said were really wars between the French and English powers.

During the Renaissance, a Protestant temple was build, which is now a bed and breakfast named La Maison des Adirondacks, or “House of the Adirondacks.” The foundation of the building is Roman and Sterling Alsina said it has hosted Paul Smith’s College students.

On Friday, Weissberg held what he said is the most scientific book written recently about the Roman history in Entrains. The book, written in French, has page after page of historical accounts, photos of artifacts and research into the past.

This copy was signed by the mayor of Entrains addressed to Bill Madden on the French mayor’s first official visit to Saranac Lake as a sister city, on Oct. 7, 1990.

Weissberg said he found the book at a library sale a few years ago and “saved it.” He left it with Sterling Alsina until he returns to town again for her to enjoy. She is keeping it in her shop now, with the many books she has on French history.

Weissberg will be staying in town until Sunday, when he will return to Entrains. Sterling Alsina has visited this sister city before and said it is a land “lost in history.”

The town is at a crossroads of France, she said, with three major roads going through it.

Entrains, Saranac Lake and Rome also all have something in common. They each have an important river running through them — Le Nohain, the Saranac River and the Tiber River.