April 21, 2019: The Show Must Go On in Orange

It's grey and threatening rain. Janis and Clark need a recovery day as Janis is still recovering from her cold. Dave wants to be sure Judy has seen Orange before she leaves. So we gather raincoats and head off the half hour drive to Orange.

Not so good at writing with a mouse!

Founded in 35 BC, by veterans of the second legion of Julius Caesar's conquering army, Orange was split into lots for Roman soldiers and colonists. It was sometimes considered a mini-Rome and developed many public buildings as the capital of northern Provence. It thrived until 412 AD when it was sacked by Germanic invaders. The middle ages saw the Roman buildings used for building material. There's more to the history, but let's start with Roman occupation.

Arriving in Orange, we found a convenient parking lot, found out it is free on Sundays, and headed through the old streets toward the Roman Theatre, where we remembered the Tourist Office being when we were here in 2011. Oops. Tourist Office has moved - to a block from where we had parked our car. Retracing our steps, we finally get a city tour map and region information. We're ready to start again. Back to the Roman Theatre which is for us the jewel of this city. Entrance for Dave and I is free because I am handicapped (riding my chariot). An audio guide is provided with the 11 Euro 50 cent entrance fee. I won't be able to do the things that involve climbing, but I can listen and see most of the items from the orchestra of the theatre.

Dave's photo from 2011 shows the stage without scaffolding

Our first view is a disappointment. The massive stage is covered in scaffolding - 11 stories of scaffolding by my count. There is a huge restoration project underway to save the stones of the back wall of the stage whose limestone blocks were being worn away by sun and weather.

scaffolding hides most of the stage

I counted 11 floors of scaffolding. I believe height of stage is around 120 feet

But the sheer magnitude of this theatre which seats 10,000 and has incredible acoustics is not diminished by the scaffolding.

Artist rendering of the complex of the theatre (lower left) and temple area (upper left) along with other public spaces (from photo of a sign posted in the theatre)

In Roman times, everyone in the city came to the play - rich and powerful sat in the orchestra, followed by citizens of various social status, each rung separated by a low wall to keep the social casts separate. At the very top, standing room only, were the slaves, servants, prostitutes and other unworthy folks. At first, plays were about once a week, but as time went by and the Roman government was trying to keep the people happy, plays, mimes, and baudy entertainments were offered almost every other day.

view from center of seating showing only half the seats. In the first row of stone seats, there's room for 100 people - and not squeezed in as we are in football stadium bleachers. As rows go higher, number of people who can be seated also increases.

gallery passageways near the top of the theatre to allow entrance to the seats above the orchestra

Our audio guides give us a feeling for how plays were put on, who the actors were, and who came to the plays, mimes and other entertainments.

listening carefully to the description of the proscenium stage

Outside this monstrously large theatre there are ruins of a large temple.

View of the temple space. The temple reached nearly to the top of the limestone wall behind. the excavations we can see are mostly of underground rooms and passageways.

part of an arch from the temple

Today, there are reenactors talking about medicines in Roman times. Also should you desire, you could have a sword fight with a Roman legionnaire.

Roman soldiers "itching" for a fight - but no kids around who wanted to challenge them

We have one more Roman ruin to see, but it comes at the end of the tour. First, we are following the tour of the old town. But first lunch. We ate on a bench on the square facing the Roman theatre. There was also a fountain dedicated to the revival of the arts on this square.

The outside of the back wall of the stage of the theatre. Note the people to get a sense of scale. Gynormous!

Fountain on the square across from the theatre

Lunch finished, we headed on the paths suggested on our map. First we dive down some small streets

and come out on the Place de la République where there is a statue of Raimbaud, Count of Orange. He was a troubadour, participated in the Crusade of 1099 and the capture of Jerusalem. He was a member of the Dutch nobility who owned Orange at the time.

Thus the principality of Orange became a Protestant-friendly town making it a lightning rod in the wars of religion. In the wars of religion, Louis XIV captured Orange and claimed it for France, ending Dutch rule of Orange. (although the Dutch prince or princess still have the honorific title of Prince/Princess of Orange.)

As we walked across the Place Clemenceau and turned right past the Hôtel de Ville,

Hôtel de Ville and a bell for Clark in a typical for Provence iron-work cage

we saw a church buried amongst the buildings on either side. You could hardly see it and its bell tower. This was the side entrance to Notre Dame de Nazareth. Completed in 1207, this church is still almost intact. It was captured by the Calvinists in the 1500s and much of the furnishings and decor of the church were burned. In 1584, the Cathedral was returned to the Catholics who restored it. Again in the Revolution, the church was taken over by the provisional government and became a "Temple of Reason". It returned to the Catholic church in 1795.

side entrance

we found the front of the church, but there were buildings built on either side here too.

bell tower was difficult to see. You had to peek around the ends of the attached building

This charming goose fountain was in a tiny, tiny square outside the front of the church

The sparsely lit interior is lightened by frescoes painted in the late 19th century. Altars to saints and to Jesus and Mary have paintings and iconography for each. One painting captures my imagination as it shows the massacre during the French Revolution of 32 nuns of the church who were guillotined for their faith.

painted side chapel 

The high altar of Notre-Dame de Nazareth in Orange

a dark painting, even in person, this depicts the beheading of nuns (and 100 other Christian) at the time of the French Revolution. A grim reminder of mob mentality and inhumanity.

I found this church to be really interesting.The stained glass isn't really old, but it's beautiful.

At about this time, it began to rain, sprinkling at first, nothing very hard. We donned raincoats and walked the few blocks to our last stop, the Roman triumphal arch. Believed to be built to celebrate the Roman conquest of Gaul (27 BC), the reliefs on the arch show friezes of slain Gauls and slaves. Large panels show the spoils of war - the weapons of the Gauls in piles.

Orange, Triumphal arch

friezes show arms captured from the Gauls

By the time we got back to the car, we were all feeling a bit damp and the rain was continuing, so we headed home to check in on Janis and Clark.

They had explored Sarrians in the afternoon and were enjoying a quiet indoor time when we arrived. Easter dinner was grilled leg of lamb with French green beans and potatoes. After aperos, of course.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to Roussillon, known for its ochre industry.