Between beaches and slopes, in heart of Provencal country, the city of Aix-en-Provence opens onto exceptional landscapes, like the Sainte Victoire mountain, and an ancestral culture which permit at each one to discover this town dedicated to water and art.
All the history of Aix-en-Provence turns around one element : the water. The city was founded in 112 B.C. by Romans who appreciated its springs. The town becomes a place consecrated to thermalism. Today we can find several remains as the “Sextius Thermaes”. The city becomes the Provencal capital in the end of 12 century in the reign of King René.
City of art and culture, Aix welcomes each year, since 1948, the International Lyrical Festival, in July, in heart of the Archbishop’s Palace.
Paul Cézanne is one of the characters most emblematic in Aix. The painter was born here in 1839. It’s in Aix he met his friend, the writer Emile Zola. This studio didn’t change since its death in 1906.
The Sainte Victoire mountain, which has inspired a large part of its works, is situated at 15 km in east of the city
·The historical center of the town is formed by the Market Town, Saint Sauveur Cathedral and Clock Tower. Don’t miss the visit of Romanesque Cloister, the Merovingian Baptistery and the walnut doors. Since 1661, you can admire in the Tower a magnificent astronomical clock. Behind the ancient belfry, we find the Count Town. In the past, it was separated of the Archbishop’s Palace, it’s today a convivial and very busy shopping place.
· For lot of people, Aix-en-Provence is above all the “Cours Mirabeau”. This place makes the connection between the ancient Aix and the new city. It’s a real open-air theater surrounded with plane trees. Edged by private mansions of the 17th and 18th centuries in Mazarin District, and busy pubs, this place is the center of the Aixist life.
· The new city is built around squares, like Albertas Square and Courts Squares, coloured by fruit or flower markets and second-hand trade. These places offered all the colours and perfumes of Provence.
· Aix merits its name of cultural city with its universities and museums, as Granet Museum dedicated to art and archaeology; the Ancient Aix Museum which gather together objects about Aix traditions and its soil; and to finish the Tapestries Museum installed in the ancient Archbishop’s Palace.
Created in 1948, the International Lyrical Festival of Aix-en-Provence is an opera and classical musics festival. It’s one of the most important European lyrical festivals, with a preference to Mozart’s operas.
It takes place each summer during one month in Aix. The festival heart is the Archbishop’s courtyard (cour) with 1305 seats. Performances take place too in the “Grand Théâtre de Provence” and the room of “Grand Saint Jean”.
The shows in open-air, at nightfall, are organized in all the city: on “Four Dolphins Square”, “Carders Square”, at Sainte Victoire mountain feet. This event permits at all to introduce the classical culture and in this way to get together all the generations.
The city reputation pass by its gastronomy too. The town is famous to these “calissons”, lozenge-shaped sweet made of ground almonds and flavoured with melon and orange candied. It’s the city speciality since the 12th century.
The vineyard, with a reputation which grows each year, have a label guaranteeing the origin of wine : “Côteaux d’Aix-en-Provence”.
In Aix, there is a large choice of monuments and in this way visits :
· Private Mansions, the famous are “Maunier Oppède”; “Boyer de Fonscombe”; “Estienne Saint Jean” and “Chateaurenard”; until the Saint Sauveur Cathedral.
· Or still famous fountains, as these of “Cours Mirabeau” and “Four Dolphins”; at city squares (Albertas, Cézanne).
· Don’t miss, the “Grains Exchange”. Built in 1759 at the ancient place of market, it constituted the principal city income with the corn tax.
· “L’Oppidum d’Entremont” is an archaeological site where we can admire the advanced civilization remains. To complete your visit, the Granet Museum, in city center, proposes collection exhibitions from site.
Aix-en-Provence monumental heritage charms by its variety, its elegance and its architecture.
This is in some lines, the essential visits of sites and museums.
· Go on Paul Cézanne traces, we will discover the painter studio, master of contemporary art. A place shared authenticity and intimacy where are exhibited its work models and its material. Continue the visit by “Bibémus Quarries”. These ochre quarries have served to Cézanne refuge from 1895.
· The “Vendôme House” is the symbol of French way of life since the 17th century. The museum houses some very fine collections of decorations and furnitures of old. Temporary exhibitions are organized regularly about technical and modernity.
· In city center, it’s impossible to miss the Tapestries Museum; the Ancient Aix Museum; Arbaut Museum which gets together the most important Provencal crockery collections; and the famous Granet Museum.
· The most : the Vasarely Foundation where are integrated
art and architecture; the Book City which relates the cultural
and artistic life through the cinema, music, literature….
Exceptional landscapes with wealth heritage, the Aix country promises you an emotional resort.
Through improvised or planned tours, go on the discovery of the “Haute Vallée de l’Arc” until the “Stars Chain” and the “Olympus Mounts”, and finish by the magnificent “Durance Valley”.
All Provence beauty and authenticity is offered here to do share and to transmit memorable sensations.
