Antique Theatre of Arles visitor guide

Visit Antique Theatre of Arles, France

The Antique Theatre in Arles is a theatre dating from the Roman period, in the town of Arles in Provence. The theatre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.

Explore the Theatre Antique in Arles

France This Way review: there are enough remains of the original theatre in Arles to make a visit interesting and instructive, although a visit does not take long

The theatre in Arles was built in the two decades before the birth of Christ, and dedicated to Apollo, the god of arts, music and male beauty.

It remained in use for about 500 years, until the church objected to theatres, and the stone from the building was used in the construction of the basilica of Saint Stephen in the town (precursor to the more recent basilica of Saint-Trophime).

Over the following centuries the site of the theatre was a building site with houses and roads and it was only in the early 19th century that the importance of the theatre was recognised and these structures were all removed.

As well as being open to visitors, the theatre in Arles is also used for occasional theatrical performances during the summer months.

As is typical of Roman theatres throughout the western world, the theatre in Arles has three main sections:

The semicircular section of stone steps where the audience would sit. With 33 rows of seats, this is more than 100 meters in diameter and could seat more than 10000 spectators, with those of a more important rank in society seated on the lower levels.
The stage, a raised platform in front of the seating that is 50 meters wide and six meters deep
A decorative wall behind the stage. This wall is unfortunately largely lost over the passage of time, but was a high wall with many decorative elements such as columns and statues providing an impressive backdrop to the stage as well as acting as a support for a shelter over the stage. All we see of this wall today are the remains of some columns and a few foundation stones.

For an idea of how the original theatre would have looked see our photos of the Roman Theatre in Orange, also in Provence.

The theatre was used for performances by actors, and was free to enter for all spectators, although women and children sometimes had to be accompanied by men during the performances.

During your visit you can see the main parts of the theatre, as detailed above.

You can also walk behind the seating to see the remains of the wall that stood behind the seating, with three rows of arches in the Doric style. A five minute video explains the history of the structure.

We recommend you buy a combined ticket giving access to the theatre and the other Roman monuments, otherwise the prices for admission to the individual monuments are quite high.

Attractions nearby

There are several important Roman monuments in Arles, as well as an impressive old town, the Vincent Van Gogh museum and the Luma centre for the Arts - see the guide to Arles for more information.

See more Ancient Monuments in France. You can find more travel ideas in the Bouches-du-Rhone guide and the Provence guide.

To make travel arrangements to visit Antique Theatre of Arles see HERE