Roman Ruins Sights in Provence — 17 of Our Favourites

Built in the 1st century AD by Emperor Augustus, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's fabulous stage wall provides amazing acoustics. As a result, one of the most famous opera festivals in the world is held year each July.

The facade of the theatre is 103 metres long, 1.8m thick and 37 metres high and was described by Louis XIV as the "most beautiful wall in my kingdom" and it's easy to see why once you're there. The stage is even more impressive with it's huge wall, which in Roman times would have had moving parts and accessories added to it to enhance the feeling of space and perspective.

The amphitheatre is open to visitors and also hosts a variety of events throughout the year.

Opening dates & times:

• January, February, November, December: 09:30-16:30
• Mars, October 09:30-17:30
• April, May, September: 09:00 - 18:00
• June, July, August: 09:00 - 19:00
• These schedules can be modified in the evening and during rehearsals shows.

Prices: €9.50 for adults, €7.50 for concessions. Family packs: If 2 adults & 1 child pay, the second child goes free. Free for under 7's. These prices also include entrance to the museum.

A smartphone app to guide you through the sites are available for iphones, ipads and Android.

This came about partly due to the burial of Saint Genest and the first bishops of Arles, and the cemetery later became a compulsory stage of the Santiago de Compostels pilgrimage route.

In Roman times cremation was to most popular practise, with remains placed in a mausoleum, designated family area or under a stone bearing an epitaph.

Today the site is a calm and peaceful place to visit, not far from the centre of Arles. It was made into a pathway by the Minimes monks in the 18th century and remains a popular place to visit.

This Roman amphitheatre used to seat 24,000 spectators. In Roman times the Arena was used for spectator games, where gladiators would fight each other or against bulls, bears or wild boars (the exotic animals were reserved for the arenas in Rome), where chariots would sweep around the sharp bends, and the orchestra accompanied the confrontations to heighten the excitement.

Today, the same arena (now seating 7000) is still used for spectator sports-confrontations, this time between bull and matador, with the highlights during the Ferias (fairs) season. Then the young bulls run through the town chased by amateurs, equally inexperienced as the bulls themselves, one would hope. It is a big event, taking place in spring and September, during the grape-harvest season. The bullfights as well as the Ferias are world famous, with crowded streets and tickets hard to come by.

Regular events take place through the summer, take a look at our events calendar to see what's going on.

Nimes Arena is open every day (except for fairs and shows).

• January, February, November and December: 09:30 - 17:00
• March and October: 09:00 - 18:00
• April, May and September: 09:00 - 18:30
• June: 09:00 - 19:00
• July and August 09:00 - 20:00

A visit to the Arena on its own is 10 euros with an audioguide, or 8 euros for concessions, or you can buy a 'Pass Nimes' for the Arena, Maison Carre and the Tour Magne for 12 euros.

The theatre was completed around the year of 14BC and was used for spectacles and plays for the general public to enjoy. It was able to hold 10,000 people and would have been lavishly decorated with columns and statues.

After the withdrawal of the Roman Empire, it began a steady decline and many stones were taken from the theatre to create new buildings in the vicinity.

It was largely left abandoned until the 17th century when it began to be used again by the Jesuit college and the convent of Misericorde. In the 18th & 19th centuries excavations began and some of the discoveries can now be seen in Arles' archaeological museums. These include an alter to Apollo and a statue of Augustus. The statue Venus d'Arles which was excavated here is now on display in the Lourve in Paris.

The theatre is 102m in diameter and has a seating section accessed by 33 steps. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is today used for various festivals and concerts. It is open to the public throughout the year and there is a small entrance fee of €9 or €6 for concessions.

It acted as the economic and administrative centre of ancient Nimes when the area was in Roman hands. The building is inspired by the temples of Apollo and Mars Ultor in Rome. It has been in continuous use since the 11th century and is now a museum where visitors can watch a 3D film about its history.

The building is open every day and on the following dates / times.

• January, February, November and December: 10:00 - 13:00 / 14:00 - 16:30.
• March and October: 10:00 - 18:00 (closed from 13:00 to 14:00 in October)
• April, May and September: 10:00 - 18:30
• June : 10:00 - 19:00
• July and August: 09:30 - 20:00

Around 60 kilometres of aqueducts were built, feeding water down towards the city with the main northerly and southerly aqueducts converging on a place called Barbegal.

At this point a series of watermills were built for the production of flour. In the 1st & 2nd centuries AD this must have been a world leading piece of technology, with 16 mills in 8 pairs running down the hillside, churning water turning the wheels of a large number of mills used for flour production.

The mill complex was in use for around two hundred years and produced enough flour to supply the whole or Arles, or Arelate as it was known in Roman times.

Today there are lots of ruins of the aqueduct system to be seen as well as the partly overgrown site of the flour mills. It's a great place to wander around and try to imagine what it would have looked like when it was all still in use.

There are two levels that feature 60 beautiful arches. With 34 steps, the spectator area was divided into sections which would be filled according to social status. An intricate system of galleries, passages and stairways ensured easy access for the audience to reach their sections.

The arena was excavated in the 19th century and is now in a very good state of repair. It is open to the public for a small fee throughout the year. The arena is used for both bullfights and 'course camarguise' (the bull is not killed in these fights). It is also home to annual festivals and concerts in Arles.
Entrance costs €9 for adults or €6 with concessions.

Built between AD 10 and 25, the arch is one of the most beautiful and interesting surviving examples of a provincial triumphal arch from the reign of Augustus.

Located on the Via Agrippa, this Triumphal Arch does not represent any victory in particular but rather symbolises Roman supremacy over land and seas.

It is decorated with low reliefs commemorating the establishment of the Pax Romana and along with the Theatre Antique, forms part of the UNESCO listings for Roman ruins in Orange.

You can take a guided tour from the tourist office to learn more about it, otherwise it's free to visit.

No-one is quite sure of its original use nor the reason it came by its name.

Today it is partly ruined although you can see columns, corridors, vaults and niches which may have been used to display statues.

A fire is believed to have destroyed it around 1600.

You'll find it alongside the Jardins de la Fontaine and it's free to visit.

Standing at the highest point of the city, Mont Cavalier, it overlooks the entire plain and is a focal point for all means of communication. The tower was originally a dry-stone oval tower, with a maximum height of 18m and already part of a rampart.

A structure that was both prestigious and strategic, it represented sanctuary and protected the oppidum.By doubling its height and incorporating it into the town walls, Augustus demonstrated the new power of the colony of Nîmes over the “City” (in the territorial sense) of the Volcae. When the town’s population abandoned the higher ground, the Tour Magne nevertheless continued to play a military role. It was used to defend against the English during the Hundred Years’ War.

Enjoy the panoramic views as you look down over Nimes.

A visit to tower costs €3.50 or you can buy a 'Pass Nimes' to visit the Tour Magne, the Arena and Maison Carré for 12 euros.

The most obvious Roman heritage is the Roman bridge (one of only five still standing in Provence), but there are two important excavation sites right in the centre of town - the Site de la Villasse is the biggest archaeological site in France that's open to the public.

You can discover the remnants of Roman villas and wander around their extensive gardens. Just to the north of this site lies the Site de Puymin which includes the grand Antique Theatre (and hosts events during the summer). Some of the ancient Roman artefacts have been collected and are on display in the Musee Theo Desplans.

Until 1921 the ancient settlement was lost, buried under earth and rocks. The major road in les Alpilles went right over it. Only the well-preserved Mausoleum of the Julii and the Triumphal Arch of Glanum were the reminders of this old settlement. These two impressive monuments (known as les Antiques) were an indication of the importance of Glanum.

The mausoleum (of c. 30 BC) is believed to have been a memorial, not a tomb, to an important Roman family, once believed that of Caesar. Today, historians are not so certain. The arch was most likely constructed in the days of Emperor Augustus. It was and is the triumphal entrance to the old town of Glanum.

When you cross the street from the arch, you'll see a vast plain of ruins, walls, a lopped-off tower, the pillars of a temple, with the majestic mountains of les Alpilles in the background. This is Glanum, the town that was sacked by Germanic tribes in 270 and then abandoned by its people. Only in 1921 did the first excavations begin, and they continue to this day. The road to St. Rémy that covered the ruins had to be diverted.

Before you enter the ancient town, it's best to spend a little time at the small visitor centre, where you also buy your ticket. There, with the help of models, you can get a sense of what the town must have looked like during its three phases of occupation. The museum also offers insightful guides and displays a number of objects, or casts of them, that have been found on the site. The majority of the precious ones can be seen in the museum Hotel de Sade in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

With plan in hand, you then wander over the vast site of old Glanum. For the most part, you're free to wander about, enter what's left of the temple of Valetudo, goddess of health, discover the bath in a citizen's home, hunt for treasures, such as the inscription on this base.

The site of Glanum is open throughout the year except for public holidays.

The Oppidum up on the hillside has been occupied by people since the neolithic period. During the Roman occupation there were huge ramparts and walls, some of which you can still see then remains of to this day.

The Via Domitia is a street that was originally built for the Roman military to pass along and later became the main thoroughfare in the area, with lots of domestic houses and businesses lining its sides.

The Ambroix bridge remains partly intact today, but in its heyday it would have had an impressive 11 arches and been around 175 metres long. Now only one arch remains, the other having been washed away by flooding over the centuries.

The staging post was a place for travellers and merchants to gather whilst using the Via Domitia. Thanks to various excavations on the site, archaeologists have discovered places to get chariots repaired, hotels and thermal baths.

The site is open year round for visitors and you can choose a guided or un-guided visit to both the site and the museum.

The road was known as Via Domitia and was the first Roman road to be built in France. It was admitted to the historical monuments list back in 1914 has been a popular tourist attraction ever since. The bridge itself is 80m long, 6m wide and stands at a height of 11.5m. It has a relatively elegant appearance, and is built from limestone.

It was used for car traffic until 2005, when a replacement bridge was built to preserve it from wear and tear. This amounts to approximately 2,000 years of uninterrupted use.

Lead pipes would have taken the water to the various fountains and baths of the city for its inhabitants to enjoy, through the round apertures that you can see in the structure.

It is thought to have been constructed in the middle of the first century AD, at the same time as the Pont du Gard. Water would have travelled around 50 kilometres to get here, over the Pont du Gard and into the city. A sluice gate at the back would have controlled the flow of water.

During the construction of the citadel in 1688 the Castellum was filled in with rubble, and only rediscovered in 1844 when it was excavated and made visible to the public once more.

Today it's a rather small an unassuming relic of the Roman period, compared to some of the larger more well known Roman ruins in Nimes, but interesting to see nonetheless.

It was originally built to provide the city of Nimes with drinking water, and today you can walk across it and enjoy the views. There are plenty of ruins associated with the water channels in the area, and you can follow a signposted trail to see ancient collapsed arches and other reminants of this monument. You can sit on the banks on the river for a picnic or enjoy a swim - the river is also great for canoeists.

If you are making your own way to this monument, you will find that you have a choice of going to the Rive Droite or the Rive Gauche - basically either side of the river. There are (pay) car parks at both and it is a similar distance from the car park to the Pont - about a 10 minute walk. A visitor centre on the Rive Gauche provides information, activities for the kids and an exhibition.

The best place for taking photos depends on the time of day - if you arrive in the morning, you'll want to be on the banks of the Rive Droite. After lunch, try the north side of the Rive Gauche.The Pont du Gard hosts firework displays, music concerts and festivals from June to October - take a look at our events calendar to see what's on.

The Pont du Gard site is open all year round.

One admission fee for the whole site - Up to five people with a vehicle can access the whole of the Pont du Gard site for a fee.

This includes: the Pont du Gard itself, the remains of the Roman aqueduct, the acces to the cultural areas (Museum, Cinema, Ludo), the Mémoires de Garrigue outdoor trail, temporary exhibitions, free events, access to 7 km of well-maintained and signed paths, picnic areas and secure car parks.

The centrepiece of the site is the "caldarium" which had 3 hot pools including one with a large vaulted apse and two rectangular pools at either side, which were heated from below by the hypocaust system.

Several fireplaces were needed to keep these pools at the perfect temperature. A "frigidarium" or cold pool was located nearby.

The baths were used not only for bathing and keeping clean, but were a place to mingle , get fit and enjoy a massage. Both women and men were allowed entry.

The buildings were abandoned at the start of the 6th century AD.