Museum / Gallery Sights in Provence

Created in 1919, this museum is located inside a former townhouse, the Hôtel Mistral de Montdragon, which dates from the Renaissance period and is classified as an historical landmark.

This remnant of the second world war is a huge engineering feat made from lots of concrete and once housed machine guns and barracks.

This is Aix's fine art gallery, housed in the 17th century Palais de Malte. The collections includes works by a variety of European painters, including two by Rubens and a small selection of Paul Cezanne.

This historic perfume factory is in the heart of the Old Town and is one of the oldest in Grasse, constructed in 1782.

At the beginning of World War II, France interned all Austrian and German nationals who were living in France at the time, and Les Milles was the prison for the south eastern region.

The museum groups 3 schools of painting - Toulon, Bourges and Paris - with over 280 works on show.

The Calvet Museum today houses works of art from the 16th to 20th century, and holds innumerable collections donated or bequeathed by patrons, art lovers and collectors, such as Baron de Montfaucon, Esprit Requien, Noël Biret, the Montlaur family, and recently Marcel Puech.

This museum (Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée — MuCEM) showcases civilisations in the Mediterranean in the twenty first century, and has been developed by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

This museum was created to protect one of the most important petroglyph sites in Europe, in the Merveilles Valley (valley of Wonders).

Just outside the village of Gordes lies the archaeological remains of a Bronze age village. The Village des Bories dates back to around 2000BC. You can still see ancient sheep pens, stone beehive houses (bories) and bread ovens.

Located in the former farmhouse at Rousty Bridge the Camargue Museum reopened in November 2013 after a year of renovation.

The building itself has been protected as a historic monument since 1979 and is worth the journey just for that, let alone the art works inside.

Some 50 white marble sculptures by Maria de Faykod, renowned sculptor with numerous existing works. She had the original idea to open a garden which exhibit some of her work to the public.

Georges Mazoyer was an accomplished diver and a talented artists. In 1975 he was inspired to create a museum full of his most treasured souvenirs from the sea and as a gallery for his own art.

The Musee Reattu presents collections of ancient and contemporary paintings, sculptures, tapestry, photography and sounds. Amongst these is a collection of some fifty seven drawings by Picasso.

This museum owes its growth to the naturalist Esprit Requien (1758-1851), who was the most famous of Avignon scientists of his time. From an old middle class family, he devoted himself early to botany. By age 18, he is active in the Botanical Garden of the city of Avignon and is a herbarium that quickly acquired great importance.

This area is well known for it's ochre pigment found in the soil, and a tour of the Mines de Bruoux show you the underground caverns that were created.

Located not far from Aix centre, this museum and shop explains a little about the history of how this unusual sweet is made.