dep.visitMuseon cg13 - Musée départemental

The architecture and the collections
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From the museum to the city
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Opening times of the monuments of Arles
For further information, please contact :
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The Cryptoportiques
Access : by the city hall (Mairie place de la République)
Things to see : the U-shaped underground tunnels.
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The forum
Access : place du Forum
Things to see : two columns and pediment fragment in the front of the
Nord-Pinus hotel.
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www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr
www.patrimoine.ville-arles.fr
Tourist office of Arles
Esplanade Charles de Gaulle
13200 Arles
Tel. : 04 90 18 41 20
The theatre
To the Castelet rock tomb
and the Barbegal mill.
Access : rue de la Calade.
Things to see : the orchestra,
part of the
stepped rows of seats, two columns and
numerous architectural elements, as well as
the Tower of Roland .
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Location of the site
The amphitheatre
Access : Rond point des arènes
Things to see : the stepped rows of seats,
the podium,the two levels of arcades and
the three medieval towers.
Bath of Constantine
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2 Place du Forum
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The circus 6 the obelisk
Access : follow the Musée départemental
Arles antique route. Presquîle-du-cirqueromain.
Things to see : the remains of the circus are
partly covered ; only the foundations of
the rounded end are visible. Since 1675,
the obelisk which decorated the wall
(spina)
adorns the Place de la République.
Useful information
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Opening times
Open daily , 10.00 – 18.00, Closed on Tuesday
Closed on 1 January , 1 May, 1 November, 25 December
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Admission fees :
Permanent collections : 6 €/ 4.5€
Free entrance every first Sunday of the month
Free entrance children under 18
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Group Visits
Reservation needed for groups of 10 or more people
Please contact our group Services at 00 33 (0) 4 90 18 89 08
Guided tours in English : please contact Arles Tourist Office at 00 33 (0) 4 90 18 41 22
Musée départemental
Arles antique
St-Blaise and
St-Jean-de-Moustiers
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Hortus
9 Tour des Mourgues
5 Roman circus
The Alyscamps necropolis
Access : avenue des Alyscamps
Things to see : one of the best conserved
and beautiful Christian necropolises, with
a path lined with sarcophagi leading to
the Saint-Honorat church.
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The Alyscamps
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The Bath of Constantine
Chronological reference points
Access : avenue du Grand Prieuré
Things to see : the large room of the hot
baths and its apse, the underfires, the
underground furnaces, as well as the vestiges of the lukewarm rooms.
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- 2 500
The Augustan rampart and the Tour des Mourgues
Access : along the boulevard Émile-Combes up to the boulevard des Lices
Things to see : the Augustan wall in large-size bond, reworked in
the Middle Ages, is still partially visible from the east side. It ends at the southeast
angle with the Tour des Mourgues, which obtained its name from the convent
founded by the bishop Caesarius at the beginning of the 6th century
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Early VIth c.
B. C.
Founding of a Greek
trading post in Arles
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Arles, Roman colony
The Saint-Jean-de-Moustiers church and the Saint-Blaise church
Access : rue du Grand-Couvent, both churches are visible from the outside
Things to see : the Hauture district contained a group of chapels, churches
and monasteries of Late Antiquity.
The Saint-Jean-de-Moustiers chapel has a semi-circular apse, decorated with
fluted pilasters and Corinthian capitals. The architecture of the Saint-Blaise
church was redesigned between the 12th and 14th century.
- 12/10
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149/150
CONSEIL GÉNÉRAL DES BOUCHES-DU-RHÔNE
Direction de la Culture - BP 22513 - Place de la Joliette - 13566 Marseille cedex 2
www.cg13.fr
Musée départemental Arles antique
Presqu’île-du-cirque-romain - BP 205 – 13635 Arles cedex
Tél. : 04 90 18 88 88 - Fax : 04 90 18 88 93
info.mdaa@cg13.fr - www.arles-antique.cg13.fr
The Arles rock tombs
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313
Early IVth c.
407
536
Construction of the
forum and the theatre
Construction of
the amphitheatre
PREHISTORIC TIMES
Admission free
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Theatre
EARLY HISTORY
Open daily
Closed on Tuesday and 1 January,
1 May, 1 November, 25 December
April – September : 10:00 – 21:00
October – March : 10:00 – 17:30
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Obélisk
EARLY EMPIRE
Near the museum, it covers more
than 7000 m2 of green spaces
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Cryptoportiques 1
Construction of the circus
Set-up of a mint
workshop
Building of the bath
of Constantine
Transfer of the
Prefecture of the Gauls
to Arles
Frankish Provence
LATE ANTIQUITY
Hortus, garden of roman inspiration
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Amphitheatre
- 6 000
Neolithic
- 1 800
Copper Age
- 1 200
Bronze Age
- 700
Iron Age
- 600
Founding of Marseille
by the Greeks
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Caesar sets out to
conquer Gaul
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Augustus creates the Empire
69
Flavian Dynasty
98
Antonine Dynasty
313
Constantine authorises
Christian religion
392
Theodosius prohibits
pagan religions
476
Fall of the Western Roman
Empire
*Tarifs au 01/01/2008, susceptibles de modification - Photos : Musée départemental Arles antique, Service du Patrimoine de la ville d’Arles - Conception : Service des publics, M.Vachin - Réalisation : Studio graphique du CG13, I. Jammes
Bearing witness to the ancient origins of Provence, the archaeological
objects discovered on Arles soil and in the vicinity are gathered in a
single place.
The museum can be visited in two different ways :
• Chronologically, running from Prehistory, 2500 B.C. (the entrance)
to the end of Antiquity, 6th century (the exit) ;
• Thematically, corresponding to the characteristics of the museum’s
various collections (daily life, trade, the economy, embellishments).
The terraces provide a good view of the Roman Circus site and the
triangular shape of the museum.
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Ë
The musée départemental Arles antique, opposite the remains of
Roman Circus, was inaugurated in 1995.
Henri Ciriani’s architectural project, decidedly modern, is adapted to
the basic functions of an archaeological museum :
• The presentation of the collection to the public ;
• Conservation and restoration, with a mosaics conservation and
restoration workshop and an archaeology laboratory ;
• The reception and mentoring of different kinds of publics (visits,
workshops, internships).
The building’s triangular layout symbolically incarnates these three
functions.
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Antiquity
so near ...
Welcome to
Musée départemental Arles antique
cg13.fr
Selections from the permanent collection
The visit
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Votive shield
Corinthian capital
Swan altar
Copper Age
length : 25.5 centimetres
3rd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
length : 4.1 centimetres
26 B.C. - height : 110 centimetres
2nd century - height : 64 centimetres
End of the 1st century B.C.
height : 85 centimetres
Prehistoric timese
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Early historye
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The Roman city e
The city l 4 Romanisation l 5 Society l
The rampart l 8 The arches of triumph
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The Army
The forum e
The Arles forum, a political, economic and religious centre, was
built by Augustus around 20 B.C. and expanded under Tiberius in
the 1st century. A final part was added during the Constantinian
period in the 4th century
The special feature of this forum, located in the very heart of the city,
is that it is situated on the hillside, on foundations called « cryptoportiques ». These are walls which are half-buried in the south and
exposed in the north, enabling the construction of a flat surface. The
double corridors with elaborate finishings and several architectural
elements of the forum´s decoration (columns, capitals…) can still be
seen. A portico with a series of columns enclosed this rectangular
area of approximately 3,000 square meters.
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Amphora
Grape-shaped bottle
Bronze faun
Aiôn Mosaic (details)
End of the 1st century height : 19 centimetres
End of the 2nd century
height : 96 centimetres
1st – 2nd century - height : 18.2 centimetres
1st century B.C.
height : 51 centimetres
End of the 2nd century length:
770 centimetres width : 768 centimetres
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Trade l 14 Industry l 15 Cattle breeding l
17 Communication routes l 18 Water
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Navigation
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Served by important traffic infrastructure on the land (Via
Aurelia, Domitia, Agrippa), by a river (Rhône) and maritime
(Mediterranean Sea) network, the city was at the very core
of an exchange and redistribution system.
Ceramics, amphorae from Italy, Africa, Spain and metal ingots
from the Western Roman Empire illustrate this trade.
Intensive cattle breeding is practiced in Camargue and
Crau, as shown by the vestiges of sheep barns ;
olive trees and wine and wheat were cultivated on large
agricultural estates.
Barbegal’s hydraulic mill could process substantial
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quantities of wheat and produce up to 4.5 tons of
flour per day. Water was conveyed to the mill
and to Arles via aqueducts, followed up by a
lead-pipe system.
The circus e
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Prehistoric times
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Early history
Early Empire
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The amphitheatre e
The amphitheatre was built when the city was expanding at the
end of the 1st century..
It includes an outer wall comprised of two levels of arcades and
stepped rows of seats which could hold 20,000 spectators who were
protected from the sun by a velum (a piece of canvas stretched on ropes).
Gladiator fights and exotic animal hunts took place in the sand- covered
arena. As early as the 8th century it became a veritable fortress with the
construction of defence towers, providing the Arles arena with its
characteristic features.
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Daily lifee
Handicrafts l
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Home l
Mosaicse
Health l
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Funeral rites e
The Arles Necropolis l
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Funeral art
The display case with burial urns made from baked clay, glass,
lead and stone shows the cremation rite, the most widespread
rite until the 1st century.
Burying the dead, which began to become widespread at the
beginning of the 2nd century and which was gradually to become
the exclusive means of disposing of the dead, varied according to
the social status of the deceased person : from burial on open soil for
poorer people to stone sarcophagi for the wealthier.
The alley lined with numerous sarcophagi and which brings the visit
to an end, makes one think of the sarcophagi staged by the
Minim Friars in the 18th century in the Alyscamps necropolis. Initially
pagan, the necropolis became a high place of Christian
spirituality focused on the tomb of Genesius the martyr.
This extraordinary collection of pagan and Christian sarcophagi
reflects the prosperity of Arles society from the 2nd to the 5th
centuries. The red wall includes stela, funerary inscriptions and some
fragments of sarcophagi, evidence of ancient beliefs.
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Gods and heroes e
The museum owns a collection of mosaics most of which come
from the Trinquetaille district, on the right bank of the Rhone
River where several luxurious Roman villas stood. They provide
us with an overview of two mosaic techniques.
The opus tessellatum
which uses tesserae (small cubes of carved
stone, measuring approximately one centimetre on each side). One
of them adorned the triclinium
(dining room) of one of the houses.
Its decoration represents the god « Aiôn » holding the Zodiac wheel
surrounded by Nereids (sea nymphs), sea animals and the four
seasons. Dionysus in procession welcomes the guests, while the
nearby geometric design indicates the location of the seats.
The opus sectile
, found in a house adjoining that of Aiôn, is made
from marble slabs and other hard stone carved in various geometrical shapes (squares, rectangles, diamonds, hexagons, etc.).
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Buckle of Saint Caesarius
6th century - height : 5 centimetres
century -length : 220 centimetres
As a roman colony Arles adopts the religion habits of the
Empire.
The mythology and diversity of the religions (public religion of the
main gods of the pantheon, imperial religion and private or family
religion) are represented through the altars, stela and sculptures of
divinities such as Minerva, Medea or the bronze faun.
The spread of eastern religions to Arles is favoured by the cosmopolitan character of its harbour. Numerous religions are present, as
evidenced by the altar of the goddess Cybele (Phrygian cult), or the
representation of Mithras (Persian cult).
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Delivery of the table of the law
sarcophagus (details) End of the 4th
Late Antiquity
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Bronze gladiator
The economy e
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In 46 B.C. Arles became a roman colony as a reward for its loyalty to Julius Caesar during his struggle against Pompeius, who
allied with Marseille. Julius Caesar settled the veterans of the 6th
Legion in the new colony named Arelate (« the settlement near
the swamp »)
Construction work really began under Augustus : a city modelled on
Rome began to develop. A general scale model of the city shows the
urban area in the 4th century. This plan includes the urban planning
programs of the Augustan period (the wall, the arches of triumph, the
main north-south street (cardo)
, the east-west street (decumanus)
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the forum, the theatre, of the Flavian period (the amphitheatre), of
the period of Antoninus Pius (the Circus, the ‘bridge of boats’), and of
the Constantinian period (the public baths).
The Clipeus Virtutis
, Augustus’ votive shield, the imperial portraits,
the stela of the municipal judges, priests and soldiers bear witness to
the extent and speed of the Romanisation of the local authorities and
the social organisation of the city.
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(details)
High Empire - height : 56.5 centimetres
The theatre e
It was 450 meters long and 101 meters wide
and had a capacity of 20,000 spectators.
Due to the wetland the circus was placed on
28,000 oak and pine pilings. Laboratory analysis enabled to determine their cutting years to
148 and 149 A.D., during the reigning period of Antoninus Pius.
Chariot races took place on a wide track,
separated into two parts by a wall
(the spina) decorated with sculptures,
with an obelisk installed at the beginning of the 4th century which
currently adorns the « Place de la
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République » opposite the City
Hall.
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Relief with cupids as chavioteers
Built at the end of the 1st century B.C. under the Emperor
Augustus, the Arles theatre, designed to hold up to 10,000
spectators, was part of the first urbanisation campaign.
Stairs, lateral corridors and « vomitoria » led to the stepped rows of
seats. The musicians took their places in the orchestra
separated from
the stage by the curtain and its mechanism. The stage wall was richly
decorated with columns and aedicules in which statues were
placed. Among the elements which have been discovered are
the swan altar, the monumental statue of Augustus, the Venus
which is now in the Louvre, and the dancers. The theatre was
used as a stone quarry as early as the beginning of the
Middle Ages.
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In 600 B.C. the founding of Marseille by Greeks from Phocaea is
a sign of a significant change in Provence.
Commercial and cultural exchange occurs between the Celtoligurian and the new arrivals, as proved by the discoveries in Arles of
greek ceramics which were painted using red-figure and black-figure techniques. Greeks settled in the indigenous city which
was founded as early as the beginning of the 6th century B.C. An
evidence for this is a district built of streets and dwellings which are
laid out in a formal manner, discovered under the car park at
Boulevard des Lices, the former site of the Winter Garden.
It was abandoned at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C..
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Fragment of Attic goblet
The oldest discoveries of the Arles region, which are unfortunately
rather sketchy, date back to the Palaeolithic age and originate in
the Crau Plain.
But the first large prehistoric complex, discovered in the Alpilles
region, dates from the end of the Neolithic period. It consists of
megalithic burial places called hypogea (or « rock tombs ») which
are comprised of tunnels and underground funeral chambers.
The archaeological furnishings which were found are characteristic
of the end of the Neolithic period and the beginning of the Copper
Age (2500 to 1800 B.C.) : flint arrowheads, jewellery, pottery and
metal tools.
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Copper dagger
Late Antiquity e
Jewel
A series of display cases introduce the visitor to the Romans´ living
environment based on everyday objects found in archaeological
digs ; these included such items as keys, thimbles, knuckle-bones,
needles, etc.
Two display cases are devoted to tableware. These items could be made
of clay (vases, dishes, varnished and decorated bowls), silver, bronze
(saucepans, frying-pans, flat dishes), or glass (bottles, beakers, vials…).
A display case placed under the auspices of Aesculapius, the god of medicine, illustrates our ancestors’ health problems, while another display case
shows a few of the ornaments with which the beautiful Roman women
loved to adorn themselves..
At the end of the 4th century Arles became an important
political and religious centre.
The administrative and political power was transferred from Trier to
Arles. A basilica was built in counter current with the rampart, and
later (in the 5th century) in the city centre.
In the 6th century the Christian city extends its influence over all of
Gaul, thanks to bishop Caesarius of Arles. His ivory belt buckle,
which belongs to a large group of historical relics, brings this visit to
an end. With the death of the bishop the history of Arles as an
ancient city comes to an end. Arles finally cedes its sovereignty to
Frankish royalty in 536.