Cours Mirabeau

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Cours Mirabeau
coat of arms
Street in Aix-en-Provence
Cours Mirabeau
Basic data
place Aix-en-Provence
District City center
Created 1651
Hist. Names Cours à carosses
Connecting roads (east): Rue de l'Opéra
Cross streets (Selection)
Rue Laroque , Rue du 4 Septembre , Rue Frédéric Mistral
Places Place du Général du Gaulle , Place Forbin
Technical specifications
Street length 440 m

The Cours Mirabeau is a boulevard and one of the main axes in the city center of Aix-en-Provence . It leads in an east-west direction from Place du Général du Gaulle to Place Forbin . The Cours Mirabeau is the city's tourist promenade and connects the southern Mazarin quarter with the northern old town.

history

The Cours Mirabeau is named after the writer and politician Count Gabriel-Honoré de Mirabeau , who in 1789 was elected by the citizens of the city as a member of the Third Estate in the Estates General . Before it was built, this was the site of the old city wall and the place of execution for Aix. The cours was laid out in 1651 and was originally named Cours à carosses . Initially, the cours served exclusively for representation, on which only the carriages of the nobles were allowed to run. Shops were not allowed to be opened, mule carts or handcarts were not allowed to drive on the avenue. In the eighteenth century, the Cours developed into a handsome promenade. The famous Les Deux Garçons café opened in 1792 . In 1876 the avenue got its current name.

Attractions

The avenue of plane trees with the characteristic moss-covered fountain on the central axis is lined with magnificent and elegant buildings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On the south side there are richly decorated aristocratic palaces and old town houses, which nowadays house banks, confectioners and part of the university. Many of them have wrought-iron balconies supported by caryatids , atlases or festoons with fruit motifs. On the northern side there are cafes, restaurants, bookshops and boutiques.

Les Deux Garçons

Café Les Deux Garçons

The renowned Café Les Deux Garçons is located in the eastern section on Rue Fabrot and is about as famous as the Caffè Florian in Venice or the Café de Flore in Paris . It was a meeting point for many well-known writers and artists such as Émile Zola , Paul Cézanne , Jean Giraudoux , Blaise Cendrars and Jean Cocteau .

Townhouses

Atlases in front of the Hôtel Maurel de Pontevès (No. 38)
  • No. 10: The Hôtel d'Entrecasteaux was made famous by a murder. In 1782 the husband cut the Marquise d'Entrecasteaux's throat here in order to be able to marry his mistress .
  • No. 16: In the Hôtel de Mougins-Roquefort lived Honoré de Mirabeau's grandfather Jean-Antoine du Riquette, nicknamed Col d'Argent ( "Silver Collar") was because he supported as a result of war injuries his neck with a precious frill.
  • No. 20: The Hôtel de Forbin is the largest town house on the Cours Mirabeau and was built by Pierre Pavillon in 1656 . The balcony with its wrought iron grille is supported by leaves artistically carved into stone. There is a statue of a virgin on the corner pillar of the house.
  • No. 38: The oldest town house on the avenue is the Hôtel Maurel de Pontevès . It was built by Jean Lombard in 1647. The balcony is supported by two large atlases .
  • No. 55: An old shop sign reading Chapellerie Cézanne du Cours Mirabeau, gros et détail indicates that Paul Cézanne's father ran a hat shop here in 1825.

Fountain

  • The Fontaine de la Rotonde was built in 1860 and is located in the middle of the Place du Général du Gaulle (formerly Place de la Rotonde ) in the center of the boulevard ring that surrounds the city center.
  • The Fontaine des Neuf-Canons was built in 1691.
  • The Fontaine Mossue , overgrown with moss and built in 1734, gushes 34 ° warm thermal water.
  • The Fontaine du Roi René is located on Place Forbin , where the statue of King René I is located. The king is holding a grape of muscatel that he is said to have imported into Provence .
  • Fountain on the Cours Mirabeau

  • Fontaine de la Rotonde

  • Fontaine des Neuf-Canons

  • Fontaine Mossue

  • Fontaine du Roi René with statue

literature

  • Stefan Brandenburg, Ines Mache: Provence. The complete guide for individual travel and discovery in Provence, the Camargue and Marseille. , Reise Know-How Verlag Rump, 6th updated edition, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-8317-1665-4 , pp. 436–437.
  • Giovanna Magi: Provence , German edition, Bonechi Verlag, Florence 1982, ISBN 88-7009-104-X , pp. 6-7.
  • Cony Ziegler: Provence with Camargue , travel book publisher Iwanowski, 2nd updated edition, Dormagen 2009, ISBN 978-3-933041-54-8 , pp. 435-438.

Web links

Commons : Cours Mirabeau  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Cony Ziegler: Provence with Camargue , 2nd edition 2009, pp. 435-438.
  2. ^ A b Giovanna Magi: Provence , 1982, pp. 6-7.
  3. ↑ a b c d Stefan Brandenburg, Ines Mache: Provence , 6th edition, 2008, p. 436.

Coordinates: 43 ° 31 '36 "  N , 5 ° 26' 55"  E