Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
changed over two millennia, with its houses still clustered around the city center, and ware-
houses still located on the opposite side of the river.
Look for individual models of important buildings shown in the city model: the elegant
forum; the floating bridge that gave Arles a strategic advantage (over the widest, and there-
fore slowest, part of the river); the theater (with its magnificent stage wall); the arena (with
its movable stadium cover to shelter spectators from sun or rain); the hydraulic mill of
Barbegal(withits16waterwheelspoweredbywatercascadingdownahillside);andthecir-
cus (a.k.a. chariot racecourse). Part of the original racecourse was just outside the windows,
and though long gone, it must have resembled Rome's Circus Maximus in its day—its ob-
elisk is now the centerpiece of Arles' Place de la République.
You'll also pass displays of pottery, jewelry, metal and glass artifacts, and well-crafted
mosaic floors that illustrate how Roman Arles was a city of art and culture. The many
statues
thatyouseearealloriginal,exceptforthegreatest—the
VenusofArles
,whichLouis
XIVtookalikingtoandhadmovedtoVersailles.It'snowintheLouvre—and,aslocalssay,
“When it's in Paris...bye-bye.”
Preparations are well under way for the installation of a
Gallo-Roman vessel
and much
of its cargo, to be displayed in a large new room facing the Hortus Garden. This almost
100-foot-long Roman barge was pulled out of the Rhône in 2010, along with some 280 am-
phorae and 3,000 ceramic artifacts. It was typical of flat-bottomed barges used to shuttle
goods between Arles and ports along the Mediterranean (vessels were manually towed up-
river).
Just before leaving, you'll pass an impressive row of pagan and early-Christian
sarco-
phagi
(from the second to fifth centuries
A.D.
). These would have lined the Via Aurelia out-
side the town wall. In the early days of the Church, Jesus was often portrayed beardless and
as the good shepherd, with a lamb over his shoulder.
In Central Arles
Ideally, visit these sights in the order listed below. I've included some walking directions to
▲▲▲
Forum Square (Place du Forum)
Named for the Roman forum that once stood here, Place du Forum was the political and re-
ligious center ofRoman Arles. Still lively,this café-crammed square isalocal watering hole
andpopularfora
pastis
(anise-based apéritif). Thebistrosonthesquare,thoughnoplace for
a fine dinner, can put together a good-enough salad or
plat du jour
—and when you sprinkle
on the ambience, that's €12 well spent.
At the corner of Grand Hôtel Nord-Pinus (a favorite of Pablo Picasso), a plaque shows
how the Romans built a foundation of galleries to make the main square level in order to
