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Aix-en-Provence

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Aix-en-Provence
The coat of arms of Aix-en-Provence
Location of
CountryFrance
ArrondissementAix-en-Provence
CantonChief town of 3 cantons
 • Mayor(UMP)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code13001 /

Aix (IPA: [ɛks]), or, to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, Aix-en-Provence (Provençal Occitan: Ais de Provença in classical norm or Ais de Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a city in southern France, some 30 km north of Marseille. It is located in the Provence region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. The population of Aix is approximately 140,100. Its inhabitants are called Aixois.

History

For the ecclesiastical history, see Archdiocese of Aix
Small street in Aix-en-Provence.

Aix (Aquae Sextiae) was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its springs. In 102 BC its neighbourhood was the scene of the Battle of Aquae Sextiae when Romans under Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri and Teutones, with mass suicides among the captured women, which passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism.

In the 4th century AD it became the metropolis of Narbonensis Secunda. It was occupied by the Visigoths in 477. In the succeeding century, the town was repeatedly plundered by the Franks and Lombards, and was occupied by the Saracens in 731. Aix, which during the Middle Ages was the capital of the county of Provence, did not reach its zenith until after the 12th century, when, under the houses of Aragon and Anjou, it became an artistic centre and seat of learning.

Aix passed to the crown of France with the rest of Provence in 1487, and in 1501 Louis XII established there the parliament of Provence, which existed until 1789. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was the seat of the Intendance of Provence.

Current archeological excavations in the Ville des Tours, a medieval suburb of Aix, have unearthed the remains of a roman amphitheatre.

Geography and climate

Aix-en-Provence is situated in a plain overlooking the Arc, about a mile from the right bank of the river. The city slopes gently from north to south and the Montagne Sainte-Victoire can easily be seen to the east. Aix's position in the south of France gives it a warm climate. It has an average January temperature of 5°C and a July average of 22°C. It has an average of 300 days of sunshine and only 91 of rain. Whilst it is partially protected from the Mistral, Aix does occasionally suffer the cold gusty conditions it brings.

Main sights

Les Deux Garçons
Place de l'Hotel de Ville
The Cathedral Cloisters
La Rotonde
Quartier Mazarin

The Cours Mirabeau is a wide thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses and decorated by fountains. It follows the line of the old city wall and divides the town into two sections. The new town extends to the south and west; the old town, with its wide but irregular streets and its old mansions dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, lies to the north. Along this avenue, which is lined on one side with banks and on the other with cafés, is the Deux Garçons, the most famous brasserie in Aix. Built in 1792, it has been frequented by the likes of Cézanne, Zola and Hemingway.

The Cathedral of the Holy Saviour (Cathédrale Saint Sauveur) is situated to the north in the medieval part of Aix. Built on the site of a Roman temple, it dates from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. It is fronted by a richly decorated portal in Gothic style with elaborately carved doors, and is flanked on the north by an uncompleted tower. The interior contains tapestries from the 16th century, other works of art and a baptismal pool dating from the fourth century. The archbishop's palace (Palais de l'Archêveché) and a Romanesque cloister adjoin the cathedral on its south side. The Archbishopric of Aix is now shared with Arles.

Among its other public institutions, Aix also has the second most important Appeal Court (Palais de Justice) outside Paris, located near the site of the former Palace of the Princes (Palais des Comtes) of Provence.

The hôtel de ville, a building in the classical style of the middle of the 17th century, looks onto a picturesque square (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville). It contains some fine woodwork and a large library, which includes many valuable manuscripts. At its side rises a handsome clock-tower erected in 1505.

Also on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville is the former Corn Exchange (Halle de Grains). This ornately decorated 18th century building was designed by the Vallon brothers. Nearby are the remarkable thermal springs, containing lime and carbonic acid, that first drew the Romans to Aix and gave it the name Aquae Sextiae. A spa was built in 1705 near the remains of the ancient roman baths of Sextius.

South of the Cours Mirabeau is the Quartier Mazarin. This residential district was constructed for the gentry of Aix by the brother of Cardinal Mazarin in the last half of the seventeenth century and contains several notable hôtels particuliers. The 13th century church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte contains valuable pictures and a recently restored organ. Next to it is the Musée Granet.

Aix is often referred to as the city of a thousand fountains. Among the most notable are the seventeeth century Fontaine des Quatre Dauphins (Fountain of the Four Dolphins) in the Quartier Mazarin, designed by Jean-Claude Rambot, and three of the fountains down the central Cours Mirabeau: At the top, a nineteenth century fountain depicts the "good king" René holding the Muscat grapes that he introduced to Provence in the fifteenth century; half-way down is a natural hot water fountain (34°C), covered in moss, dating back to the romans; and at the bottom at la Rotonde, the hub of modern Aix, stands a monumental fountain from 1860 beneath three giant statues representing art, justice and agriculture. In the older part of Aix, there are also charming fountains in the Place d'Albertas and the Place des Trois-Ormeaux.

Education

The Institute of Political Studies

Aix has long been a university town: Louis II of Anjou granted a royal charter for a university in 1409. Today Aix remains an important educational centre, with many teaching and research institutes:

Aix also has several training colleges, lycées, and a college of art and design. It has also become a centre for many international study programmes.

Culture

Music

Aix holds two significant musical events each year. These are:

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

File:Aix-En-ProvenceFestival.PNG

An important opera festival, the 'Festival international d'Art Lyrique' founded in 1948 which now ranks with those in Bayreuth, Salzburg and Glyndebourne. The current director is Bernard Foccroulle, director of la Monnaie in Brussels. The festival takes place in late June and July each year. The main venues in Aix itself are the outdoor Théâtre de l'Archévêché in the former gardens of the archbishop's palace, the recently restored 18th century Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, and the newly built Grand Théâtre de Provence; operas are also staged in the outdoor Théâtre du Grand Saint-Jean outside Aix. Linked to the festival is the Académie européenne de musique, a summer school for young musicians with master classes by celebrated artists.

Musique dans la Rue

This takes place each year in June to coincide with the national 'Fête de la Musique.' There is a week of classical, jazz and popular concerts held in different street venues and courtyards in the city. Some of these events are held in the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud, named in honour of the french composer, a native of Aix.

Museums and Libraries

Granet's "Pumpkin Harvest" at the Musée Granet

Aix has several museums and galleries:

  • Le Musée du Vieil Aix (Museum of Old Aix), housed in two period "hôtels particuliers" and devoted to the history and provencal heritage of Aix.
  • Le Musée d’Histoire Naturelle (Natural History Museum).
  • Le Musée de Tapisseries (Tapestry Museum), housed in the Archbishop's Palace.
  • Le Musée Paul Arbaud (Faïence/Pottery).
  • Le Musée Granet, a museum devoted to painting, sculpture and the archeology of Aix. It recently underwent significant restoration and reorganization, prior to the international exhibition in 2006 marking the centenary of Cézanne's death. Due to lack of space, the large archeological collection, including many recent discoveries, will be displayed in a new museum, still in the planning stages.
  • Le Pavillon de Vendôme, a 17th century mansion housing permanent and touring art exhibitions.
  • The Vasarely Foundation, a gallery dedicated to the works of the Hungarian-born French abstract painter Victor Vasarely.
  • L'atelier Cézanne, a museum on the northern outskirts of Aix, constructed around the studio of the painter Paul Cézanne.
  • Jas de Bouffan, the house and grounds of Cézanne's father, now partially open to the public.

Prior to 1989 Aix had multiple libraries, for example in the Parc Jourdan and the Town Hall. In 1989, many of these were moved to the Méjanes, an old match factory. This comprises an adult section, a children's section and a CD loan facility.
In 1993, the "Cité du Livre" was opened around the library. This has spaces for dance, cinema and music, and a training facility for librarians.

Mont Sainte-Victoire

Mont Sainte-Victoire, Paul Cézanne 1882-5
Mont Sainte-Victoire, Paul Cézanne 1904-6

To the east of Aix rises the magnificent 1011m Mont Sainte-Victoire. It is accessible from the centre of Aix by road or on foot, taking the wooded footpath of Escrachou Pevou to the plateau of Bibemus. It dramatically overshadows the small dam built by Emile Zola's father and was a favourite subject and haunt of Paul Cézanne throughout his lifetime. In the village of le Tholonet on the precipitous southern side of Mont Sainte-Victoire, there is a windmill that he used and beyond that a mountain hut, the réfuge Cézanne, where he liked to paint.

To the north, the mountain slopes gently down through woodland to the village of Vauvenargues. The chateau that overlooks the village was acquired by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in 1958; fifteen years later he was buried in its grounds, which are not currently open to the public. Mont Sainte-Victoire has a complex network of paths, leading to the priory and Croix de Provence at the summit, to the large man-made reservoir of Bimont and to the roman viaduct above le Tholonet.

Economy

Calissons, a specialty of Aix

Industries formerly included flour-milling, the manufacture of confectionery, iron-ware, hats, matches and the extraction of olive oil.

Current economic activities include:

Transport

TGV viaduct over the river Arc at Roquefavour

A set of ancient roads radiate out from Aix to the surrounding countryside, the Pays d'Aix. There are also a large number of modern autoroutes connecting Aix to nearby towns. There are autoroutes northwards to Avignon and to the Luberon; southwards to Marseille; and eastwards to Aubagne and the Mediterranean coast of Provence; and to Nice and other towns on the French Riviera. Aix and Marseille are equidistant from the international airport of Marseille-Provence at Marignane on the Etang de Berre. There is a frequent bus shuttle service there from the main bus station in Aix. This shuttle also serves the nearby TGV station "Aix-TGV" at l'Arbois, in the middle of the countryside about 10 miles from Aix.

At Aix-TGV the line from Paris branches to Marseille and Nice; it takes about 3 hours to get from Paris to Aix by TGV. Aix also has a railway station near the centre, but the single track line which connects Marseille to Aix, and from there to the Luberon and Briancon in the alps, is currently only partially in service during modernisation. A frequent and rapid shuttle bus service for commuters operates between the bus station in Aix and Marseille. There are many other long distance and local buses from the bus station.

In the town itself, there is an inexpensive and efficient municipal bus service, including a dial-a-bus service ("proxibus"), a park-and-ride service and tiny electrified buses for those with mobility problems. The central old town of Aix is for the most part pedestrianised. There are large underground and overground parking structures placed at regular intervals on the "boulevard exterieur", the predominantly one-way ring road that encircles the old town. Access to the old town is by a series of often narrow one-way streets that can be confusing to navigate for the uninitiated.

As in many other French cities, a short-term bicycle hire scheme nicknamed V'Hello, free for trips of less than half an hour, has recently been put in place by the town council: so far it seems popular with tourists. As well as overland routes, two "rivers" flow through Aix, the Arc and the Torse, but neither of them can remotely be described as navigable.

Miscellaneous

The local Aix dialect, rarely used and spoken by a rapidly decreasing number of people, is part of the provencal language. The provencal for "Aix-en-Provence" is "Ais de Prouvènço" . Most of the older streets in Aix have names in both Provencal and French.

Aix hosted the ninth International Congress of Modern Architecture in 1953.

Aix is the home town of the rugby union team Pays d'Aix RC. It also played host to the All Blacks during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Ysabel, the tenth novel of the best-selling Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay, was set and written in Aix.

Twin towns

Aix-en-Provence is officially twinned with the following seven cities (in alphabetical order):

In addition Aix has international cooperations, partnerships and exchanges with the following cities from all over the world: Oujda (Morocco), Baalbeck (Lebanon), Bamako (Mali), Baton Rouge(USA), Coral Gables (USA), Philadelphia (USA), Chaoyang (China), Foshan (China), Meguro (Japan) and Kumamoto (Japan).

People from Aix

Births

François Marius Granet
Paul Cézanne (1861)
File:Milhaud.jpg
Darius Milhaud

Aix-en-Provence was the birthplace of:

Famous residents

Portrait of Emile Zola by Edouard Manet 1868

Gallery

  • Altarpiece by Barthélemy d'Eyck Altarpiece by Barthélemy d'Eyck
  • Joseph Sec Mausoleum in revolutionary style Joseph Sec Mausoleum in revolutionary style
  • Detail of Mausoleum Detail of Mausoleum
  • Medieval town wall near Roman baths Medieval town wall near Roman baths
  • Place des Tanneurs Place des Tanneurs
  • Statue of le Roi René Statue of le Roi René
  • Detail of le Roi René Detail of le Roi René
  • Place des Quatre Dauphins, towards boulevard exterieur Place des Quatre Dauphins, towards boulevard exterieur
  • The archbishop's palace, opera house and tapestry museum The archbishop's palace, opera house and tapestry museum
  • Clock tower, Hotel de Ville Clock tower, Hotel de Ville
  • Detail of mechanical clock Detail of mechanical clock
  • The Corn Exchange The Corn Exchange
  • Cathedral Saint-Sauveur, Dome Cathedral Saint-Sauveur, Dome
  • Cathedral Saint-Sauveur Cathedral Saint-Sauveur
  • St Jean de Malte, rue Cardinale St Jean de Malte, rue Cardinale
  • Eglise de la Madeleine, place des Precheurs Eglise de la Madeleine, place des Precheurs
  • Jas de Bouffan, Paul Cezanne Jas de Bouffan, Paul Cezanne
  • Jas de Bouffan, Paul Cezanne Jas de Bouffan, Paul Cezanne
  • The Vendome Pavillion The Vendome Pavillion
  • Mural advertisement Mural advertisement
  • Atlante on a doorway in Aix Atlante on a doorway in Aix
  • The place d'Albertas The place d'Albertas
  • Fountain in the place d'Albertas Fountain in the place d'Albertas
  • Door carving in Aix Door carving in Aix
  • Mechanical clock, place des Precheurs Mechanical clock, place des Precheurs
  • Daily vegetable market, place Richelme Daily vegetable market, place Richelme
  • Provencal confectionery Provencal confectionery
  • Baroque fountain in Aix Baroque fountain in Aix
  • The cours Mirabeau The cours Mirabeau
  • Provencal market Provencal market
  • The modern spa in Aix The modern spa in Aix
  • The Vasarely Foundation The Vasarely Foundation

See also

References

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, article Aix.
  2. cf Jerome, letter cxxiii, To Ageruchia, 8, 409 A.D.
  3. http://www.mairie-aixenprovence.fr/article.php3?id_article=2493
  4. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945265-2,00.html
  5. Association of twinnings and international relations of Aix-en-Provence
  6. Mairie of Aix-en-Provence - Twinnings and pertnerships

External links

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