Some Historical and Natural
Sights in one Corner of Provence
Part 7: Glanum, Roman Town
OK, I did not have a choice, my only free morning was on the day that the Glanum archaeological site is closed! So what did I do? Of course I took pictures through the fence and of the two monuments outside the fence.
The Glanum site is just uphill from the modern city of St.-Remy-de- Provence, and is nestled into a valley of the minor east-west trending mountain range called the Alpilles, or little alps. As it turned out, Van Gogh (about whose last year of life I have an item on this website) painted here during his time in Provence! And we'll show one scene he painted below.
Outside the locked gate there stands and arch of triumph celebrating Rome's domination of the Gauls:
And a few steps away stands a prominent family's mausoleum (40 BC, the Julii family):
You can tell by looking to the right in the above photo that there used to be more to this area's buildup during Roman times, but now let's go up the canyon and see what this Glanum city looked like (from behind this fence):
The city's foundations are depicted in the following three photos:
The city had a fountain, a basilica, an atrium, a stela dedicated to Cybele, and houses. So I would like to have walked through it. Next time!
The water supply for the city was the gulch that had been modified. Since it does not flow year 'round, I am sure it fed a cistern water collection system (as in other Greek and Roman cities of that time).
The setting of Glanum is very nice, it is in a canyon coming out of the Alpilles (we will climb up onto that ridge in the next page, and that's my cute little Peugeot diesel rental car):
Some of the peculiar rocks in the Alpilles struck a fancy with Van Gogh. One of the rocks is called "Van Gogh's glasses" or "spectacles", and it is the double holes shown here (and on the next page as well, just a little bit closer up):
His painting of this scene looks like this (photo of a tourist sign on site, the original is in the Whitney museum):
So, after looking down into the valley from Glanum (with the edge of the town of St.-Remy-de-Provence nearby), it was high time to head up and do a little hike in the Alpilles (next page):
Climbing a mountain near Glanum
Springs at Fontaine de Vaucluse
Go back to Nimes and its Arena
Go back to Nimes and its Roman tower
Go back to Nimes and its Fountain Gardens park
Go back to Nimes and its Temple of Diana
Go back to Nimes aqueduct's Pont du Gard
Go back to Avignon's major attractions
Go back to LifePicks in 2006 home page