Glanum part 2

Having visited many parts of the Roman empire and made a bit of a habit out of ooh-ing and aah-ing at various examples of roman-ness on our travels, I've never seen anything quite like what remains of this temple top at Glanum. Turns out that it is not the original - disappointing. However the reason for the reconstruction is pretty convincing. The mistral, which whips through our part of Provence would wear the soft stone away at a rate of knots, so to preserve the intricate carving, it's in the museum and this is a reconstruction. Here's a close up....

What did the Romans ever do for us?

The Romans were a big influence in our corner of Provence and one of the most interesting historical visits around here is to Glanum, the remains of a Roman town just outside St Remy de Provence. The Romans weren't the first to colonise the valley - they followed hot on the heels of the Celto Ligurians and the Greeks. But as ever it seems that the Romans had the best building techniques and it's the remains of the Roman town which are still standing.

Glanum has the oldest triumphal arch in Gaul



and the best preserved Cenotaph in the Roman world,


as well as being in a beautiful setting at the foot of the Alpilles and being a really interesting example of a small Roman town.


Glanum flourished until 260 AD when it was destroyed by maurauding German tribes and the inhabitants moved north to found St Remy - we're very grateful to them for that!

I am going to upload pictures of Glanum over the next few days as it's hard to do it justice in one post....