An unscheduled day today; what was to be a rest day in Avignon turned into a long trek through the historic town of Orange, thanks to Elizabeth’s research last night – this one could not be ignored.
A brief train ride took us to Orange, a small town about 30km north of Avignon, to find that no buses (or, it seems, taxis) run on Sundays. So a walk of over a kilometre, into the small town centre to see the main attraction – the Roman theatre (and you would think that the Romans would have been more considerate and built it closer to the railway station!). It is difficult to find the words to describe what greets you as you walk out of the ticket office and suddenly see the grand exterior facade wall before you. Still almost as intact as it was when it was first built early in the 1st century CE, this great stone wall is 37 metres high and 103 metres long. The stone stage itself was 61 metres long. If you look closely at one of the photos you will see Elizabeth standing just below where the original stage would have been – this will give some perspective as to its size. There is a replica of the Caesar’s statue in a niche near the top (interestingly, these statues were mass-produced and spread around the empire, and the head was detachable and could be removed and replaced with another head if there was a change of Caesar). Other niches would have contained statues and there were about 70 marble columns adorning the façade, which would also have been covered in colorful friezes. Seating could accommodate up to 10,000 spectators, of all class and status (although the classes – aristocracy, the wealthy, the workers and the poor - were strictly separated) and sometimes the entertainment – tragedy, comedy, pantomime, music – would go on all day.
We did a
virtual reality tour inside the entry complex; this was fascinating and allowed
us to see, in vivid colour and graphics, the development of Orange from bare
fields through to the establishment of the Roman garrison and then the town, as
well as a detailed stage-by-stage description of the construction of the
theatre.
Although
all the seating has been replaced, the grand façade has remained intact over
the past two thousand years, mainly because the theatre has been in almost
continuous use (although there were periods where it fell into disuse and the
area was used for housing, even as a gaol).
We then
wandered across to the museum for a look at its interesting exhibits, then had
an absolutely delicious (by that we mean best ever) ‘pescitore’ pizza at a
restaurant in the town square.
Replenished and refreshed, we headed off on another one kilometre trek (still further away from the station) to the Arc de Triomphe d’Orange, also built in the 1st century CE
and dedicated to the glory of the veterans who founded the Roman colony of
Orange. An imposing structure, sitting
proudly in the centre of the main thoroughfare and in remarkably original
condition.
Then the long, long walk back to the station. We sighted
a couple of interesting statues along the way.
One was of Raimbaud II, Comte d’Orange, who was part of the First
Crusade that recaptured Jerusalem.
Another was of a topless Pompeia, Julius Caesar’s spouse – hardly a
fitting pose for an emperor’s wife!
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