Arles:  St-Trophime

Arles, situated on the banks of the Rhone,  has been settled since the Neolithic Era, but became especially important as a Roman provincial capital and trading center since the first century BCE.  Like Nimes, the colony was settled by military veterans, in this case Legion VI.  Arles still boasts a fine Roman arena (like the one at Nimes) and theater (like the one in Orange), but it is perhaps best known today as the place where Vincent Van Gogh lived starting in 1888, two years before his untimely death.

Spoiler alert:  If you are not into Romanesque sculpture, skip the picture album.  One of the principal masterpieces in Arles is the church of St-Trophime, especially the carvings on its magnificent west front and in the cloisters.  St Trophimus (3rd century CE) was the first bishop of Arles, said to have been sent here directly by St Peter and to have welcomed the Marys after their landing at Stes-Marie-de-la-Mer.  The ancient church was rebuilt in the late 11th-early 12th century, with the carved doorway completed ca. 1190. The interior consists of a very high barrel-vaulted ceiling with two smaller side aisles and a late Gothic chancel and ambulatory. A chapel in the north aisle holds countless reliquaries.  The cloister, dating from the 12th-14th century, is rich in beautiful carvings on its pillars and is regarded as one of the most beautiful in France.

For a picture album, click here.