Van Gogh's most productive city — where 300 paintings in 14 months, a Roman amphitheater still staging bullfights, and the doorstep of the Camargue's flamingo wetlands combine in a Provençal city UNESCO has listed for both its Roman and Romanesque monuments
Arles (50,000) in the Camargue delta is one of the most historically layered cities in France — the Roman Amphitheater (Les Arènes, c. 90 CE, capacity 20,000) and the Theatre Antique still stage summer performances; the cloister of Saint-Trophime (12th century) is one of the finest examples of Romanesque sculpture in France. Vincent van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888 and painted over 300 works in 14 months including The Yellow House, The Night Café, and the first Starry Night — before being admitted to Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in nearby Saint-Rémy. The Camargue Regional Nature Par…
Arelate was a major Roman colony from the 1st century BCE, expanded by Julius Caesar after the city sided with him against Massilia (Marseille) and rewarded with a veteran colony. Constantine the Great made Arles his western capital (306–317 CE), calling it the 'little Rome of the Gauls' — his triumphal arch, baths, and circus survive in fragments. The city hosted ecumenical councils (314 CE, 353 CE) and was a centre of early Christianity; the Alyscamps necropolis, one of the great Roman cemeteries of the ancient world, attracted medieval pilgrims who believed Saint Trophimus had been sent by…