Aix-en-Provence
|
| |
A
city of water and art – in everyone’s imagination,
this town has been built and developed around the axis of this
twin identity. Aix, however, is also a town that, over the centuries,
has been able to juxtapose its various époques and different
cultures.
|
| |
 |
| |
Open
to the world, it is a city with a human dimension where a well-reserved
heritage lives in perfect harmony with the town of tomorrow. Here,
everything is colour and sensation: the light from the sky, the
golden stone of the façades, the transparent green of the
fountains, the shade of the plane trees and the surprises to be
found on festival nights...
|
| |
| Aix
en Provence welcomes you... |
| |
 |
| |
From
the Oppidum Celto-ligure d'Entremont in the new Quartier Sextius-Mirabeau,
taking in the Ville Comtale and the numerous private hotels in
the Quartier Mazarin, Aix en Provence is an open-air history book.
Rich and alive, with a heritage gained over several millennia,
the Capital of Provence combines every time period possible.
|
| |
| The
Old Town |
 |
|
Comprising
the bourg Saint-Sauveur and the Cité Comtale, the
oldest part of the centre of Aix.
|
| |
|
| The
Cours Mirabeau |
No-one
goes to Aix en Provence without visiting the Cours Mirabeau:
a tunnel of greenery interspersed with fountains, a place
of history and place to stroll, it is still one of the most
frequented and lively areas of the town. The peripheral boulevards,
created on the site of the former ramparts, ring the old
town and form the border between the old and new towns.
|
|
 |
| |
|
| The Quartier
Mazarin |
 |
|
This
chessboard of a quarter was designed in the Seventeenth Century
by Archbishop Mazarin, the brother of the Cardinal. A true “luxury
development“ for the parliamentarians and great bourgeois
of the period, it is organised around two main axes: the
rue Cardinale and the rue du 4-Septembre...
|
| |
|
|
|
| Around
the town centre |
|
Baths
of Sextius, Oppidum d'Entremont, Cézanne’s Workshop,
Pavillon de Vendôme, fondation Vasarely...
|
| |
| Cézanne’s
Workshop and the route de Cézanne towards Mount Sainte Victoire |
 |
|
After
the death of his mother and the sale of the family property
of the Jas de Bouffan, in 1901, Cézanne had a workshop
built on the chemin des Lauves, where he went on to create
the masterpieces of his later period, including the Grandes
Baigneuses. The workshop-museum is a place of authentic
memories, keeping the painter’s memory intact. The
route de Cezanne, which passes by the Château du
Tholonet, leads to the Mount Sainte-Victoire. A journey
to the summit is
well worth a detour.
|
|
| |
| The
Museums |
| |
| Le
Musée Granet |
 |
|
Is
one of the "Musées de France". Its permanent
collections make it one of the richest provincial museums,
housing major works of French painting from the Sixteenth
to the Twentieth Centuries and the various Dutch, Flemish
and Italian Schools..
|
| |
|
|
|
| Le
Musée Paul Arbaud |
Named
after its founder and chief donor, houses one of the most significant
collections of Provencal porcelain, numerous paintings and manuscripts
within a very rich library.
|
| |
| Le
Musée des Tapisseries |
Is
to be found in the state apartments of the Palais de l’Ancien
Archevêché and houses a rich collection of tapestries
from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, including the series
known as the “Grotesque Tapestries”, backdrops use
din the theatre at Beauvais around 1689 and the only example in
the world of “The Story of Don Quichotte” (1735).
|
| |
| Le
Pavillon Vendôme |
Surrounded
by a park laid out in the French style, the Pavillon de Vendôme
provides the public with the context and interior décor
of a residence in Aix in the Eighteenth Century.
|
| |
| Le
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle |
Founded
in 1838, the museum, which is located in the very elegant Hôtel
Boyer d'Eguilles, has a collection that is unique in France of
dinosaur fossils from around Mount Ste Victoire.
|
| |
| La
Fondation Vasarely |
 |
|
In
1976, Victor Vasarely, the French contemporary artist,
created the foundation to promote the integration of art
into architecture.
|
| |
|
| La
Cité du Livre |
Is
a meeting place for all forms of artistic expression; it was built
up on the foundations of the extremely rich cultural heritage of
the Méjanes Library (the Marquis de Méjanes bequeathed
a collection of 80,000 volumes in his will in 1786).
|
| |
| Les
traditions |
| |
The
historic capital of Provence, Aix continues to perpetuate the ancestral
customs and practices around public demonstrations and family celebrations.
This culture happily coexists with today’s tradition of happiness
and creativity, thus affirming the identity both of Aix and, more
widely, of Provence as a whole.
|
| |
 |
|
The
Provençal festivals: Christmas in Provence, the Three
Wise Men, Carnival.
The crib and figures: there
are several workshops making Nativity cribs and
figures that are well worth a visit.
Les Calissons : a
mixture of almonds and crystallised melons. Calissons
are still made by hand.
Markets and fairs: Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays.
|
|
| |
| The
International Festival of Lyric Art |
Founded
in 1948, the International Festival of Lyric Art of Aix en Provence
every year, in July, welcomes lovers of lyric art for the four
corners of the globe.
In the Archbishop’s courtyard, the theatre echoes to the sounds
of the great voices of opera, singing Mozart under starry skies, as
well as Handel and Britten in prestigious productions.
Since 1998, the festival has taken off in a new direction, with new
programming being offered in the renovated theatre: everything possible
has been done to ensure that it is one of the great Rendezvous of the
summer.
|
| |
