Archbishop's Palace (Aix-en-Provence)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main entrance to the palace

The Archbishop's Palace in Aix-en-Provence is the former seat of the Archbishops of Aix . It is located in the north of the old town, bordering the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral to the east . The Regency-style building was built between 1650 and 1730 and surrounds a spacious courtyard where the Aix Music Festival takes place every year.

As was discovered during excavation work in 1985, the palace, together with the cathedral, is on the foundations of the Roman forum of Aquae Sextiae .

Tapestry Museum

A tapestry museum has been housed on the first floor of the building since the beginning of the 20th century . The sumptuously furnished living rooms house an extensive tapestry collection from the 17th and 18th centuries. On display are tapestries , woven theater sets , contemporary textile art and antique furniture . Most of the works were in Flanders and especially in the manufacture of Beauvais ( Picardie produced). Some carpets with scenes from the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes are particularly worth seeing .

Festival of Aix

The baroque inner courtyard of the palace serves as the setting for the annual opera festival ( Festival d'Art Lyrique et de la Musique d'Aix en Provence ) in July . The renowned festival was created in 1948 as a French counterpart to the festivals in Bayreuth and Salzburg . Since then, the best singers, conductors and directors from all over Europe have been invited. The festival used to be a popular summer meeting place for upscale Parisian and Marseilles society. With the support of the European Music Academy , tickets are also available at affordable prices.

The courtyard has room for about 1300 spectators. It was rebuilt in 1997/98 and has since been equipped with a larger stage and a larger orchestra pit .

literature

  • Thorsten Droste: Provence: ancient arenas, Romanesque cloisters, cities with history - a journey through France's sunny province. 7th edition. Reiseverlag Dumont, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-3927-9 , p. 239.
  • Ines Mache, Stefan Brandenburg: Provence. 7th revised and completely updated edition. Reise Know-How Verlag Rump, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8317-2022-4 , pp. 439, 444.
  • Cony Ziegler: Provence with Camargue. Travel book publisher Iwanowski. 2nd updated edition. Dormagen 2009, ISBN 978-3-933041-54-8 , p. 442.

Web links

Commons : Archbishop's Palace of Aix-en-Provence  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ziegler: Provence with Camargue. P. 442.
  2. ^ A b Droste: Provence. P. 239.
  3. ^ Bernhard evening, Rainer Eisenschmid: Provence, Côte d'Azur. Baedeker, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-8297-1260-6 , pp. 126–127.
  4. ^ Mache, Brandenburg: Provence. P. 439.

Coordinates: 43 ° 31 '54 "  N , 5 ° 26' 53.1"  E