In Roman times Arles was one of Gaul’s most venerated cities, home to more than 30,000 people and furnished with monuments that remain in place today.
On a multi-site pass, you can quench your thirst for Roman wonders and then be amazed by the works of art they left behind at the city’s museum. Much later, Arles was where Vincent van Gogh spent a year in 1888, completing many masterpieces of scenes you can visit around the city. You can also attack the legendary Camargue, the land of wild horses, fight the bulls as well as the widescreen lagoon and salt pan sweeping out the Mediterranean. Discover the best things to do in Arles.
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1. Amphitheatre
Arles’ marquee attraction is the oval arena where for more than 400 years the ancient populace would have been entertained by gladiators and chariot races.
It was modeled on Rome’s Coliseum and was built a couple of decades after in 90AD. When you come, note the clever touches, like stairways regularly spaced around the arena to manage the flow of spectators in and out.
The arena is still part of the city’s cultural life, holding bullfights and concerts. Outside, you can see the towers, and these are medieval traces from the time arena like a castle, containing more than 200 houses.
2. Theatre
Arles’ theatre is still a performance venue, more than 2,000 years after it was constructed. The lower tiers of the caves are all still here, and in Roman times this would have had additional terraces and been able to seat as many as 10,000 spectators.
On the left side of the stage, the south tower gives an indication of how high the cave would have been.
Behind the stage are two columns, labeled “Les Deux Veuves” (The Two Widows) and they are part of what would have been a gigantic backdrop that included a three-meter-high statue of Augustus.
At Arles’ Museum, you can see a large model of what the theatre would have looked like in its heyday, and how the two columns would have fitted into the scaenae frons.
3. Musée de l’Arles et de la Provence Antiques
The ideal complement to your tour of Arle's ancient monuments in this museum where many of the artifacts recovered from these archaeological sites render life in Roman Arles in sparkling detail.
It is a playground for amateur historians, filled with early Christian sculptures, mosaics, sarcophagi and decorative pieces from buildings such as theaters.
One of the newer exhibits will set your pulse racing; a Gallo-Roman barge discovered in the Rhône in 2004 and now on show surrounded by its cargo of amphorae.
You’ll also be awed by the statue of Augustus that once stood in the theatre’s scaenae frons. It measures more than three meters, with a torso found in 1750 an ahead unearthed nearly a century later in 1834!
4. Van Gogh Heritage
Vincent van Gogh came to Arles in 1888 and lived here for a year, at a time when his mental health was deteriorating. As we’ll see, he completed some of his most acclaimed paintings in the city, like The Night Café, Café Terrace at Night and Van Gogh’s Chair.
But it was also where he mutilated his left ear. The tourist office organizes a Van Gogh walk, which will show you around all the places you may have known from the 300 paintings he made in the city.
On the itinerary is the Fondation Van Gogh, which tells the story of his time in Arles and how his style changed, and holds temporary exhibitions of his work.
5. Church of St. Trophime
This church on Place de la République belongs to the city’s UNESCO site, and you’ll know why when you get close to the western portal. Here you’ll be met by one of the most celebrated sets of Romanesque sculpture, carved no later than the 1100s.
They show all sorts of biblical scenes like the Apocalypse and the Gospel of St. Matthew. If you look up at tympanum, you can identify Jesus sitting above 12 apostles, below about 40 angels in battle.
The interior has early-Christian sarcophagi, 13th-century plaques, and epitaphs, baroque paintings, and nine Aubusson tapestries from the 17th century.
6. Cloister at St. Trophime
The church’s cloister was built at the same time and deserves a separate entry as it’s one of Arles’ indispensable sights. This part of the church was for the church’s canons, whose routine resembled that of monks, removed from life in the city.
The most captivating part is the northern and eastern galleries of the cloister, built much earlier than the southern and western ones: This is because work was halted when Counts of Provence chose Aix as their seat of power instead of Arles.
You have to study every pillar in detail as each one tells a story, whether it’s Jesus’ empty tomb after the transfiguration, Moses meeting God by the burning bush or St. Stephen being stoned.
7. Thermes de Constantin
In the early 300s, Emperor Constantine lived in Arelate, and these baths were built around that time although there’s no proven connection to the man himself. They were excavated in the 19th century and are seen as one of the most complete Roman bathing complexes surviving in France.
The caldarium (hot bath) is probably the most interesting part, suspended over the hypocaust that used to heat it, with three pools one of which is walled by a semi-circular apse with windows.
This room connects with the tepidarium (warm bath) and the laconicum (hot room). The baths aren’t extensive but will fill you in about another aspect of daily life in Roman Arles.
8. Montmajour Abbey
Minute's northeast of Arles is a medieval monastery set on what used to be an island. There are several sections to the complex, the oldest being a hermitage cut from the rock in the 1000s, and this is accompanied by a 12th-century cloister and the fortified monastery of Saint-Pierre, which dates to the 14th century.
This final ensemble features the Pons de l’Orme tower, 26 meters high and fitted with crenellations to help defend the monastery against the Free Company, a mercenary army that plundered Italy and southern France in the 1300s.
As the surrounding terrain was marshy, this former island was used as a cemetery: In many instances, tombs were hewn from the rock, and these cavities are still visible at this site.
9. Alyscamps painted by Van Gogh and Gauguin
In a city less complete with ancient wonders and graveyards, Alyscamp will be a top attraction, but in Arles, it is on the side of many tourists. Starting in the Gallo-Roman period it was one of the occidental ancient world’s eminent cemeteries.
Like the Roman style, it was placed along the Aurelian Way just before it entered the city and was a coveted burial site where sarcophagi were moved from across Europe to be buried there.
By the 300s there were thousands of tombs, three layers deep. Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin had a compelling and attractive companion in Arles, and Alyscamp was the first place they drew side by side.
10. Place de la République
Arles Town Hall is located on this solemn square, as well as the Saint-Trophime and Sainte-Anne churches, facing each other. But after leaving Saint-Trophime, you will find your attention drawn to the monument in the middle of the square.
This is a Roman obelisk that originally stood in the spine (the long central barrier) in Arelate’s circus. It was found in the 1300s and erected here on a plinth in the 17th-century.
The stone for the obelisk has traveled a long way when you consider the time it was erected and that it measures more than 15 meters. It’s made of a specific type of granite found in Asia Minor, and most likely Ancient Troy.
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