Maison des Amazones
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison des Amazones, located in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 43.6777, 4.6289
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00081168
In the heart of ancient Arles, the Maison des Amazones conceals behind its sober façade a sculpted décor of rare elegance, a precious testimony to the civil architecture of late medieval Arles.
History
The Maison des Amazones is one of those discreet jewels that Arles knows so well how to hide in the criss-cross of its narrow streets. Nestling in the dense urban fabric of the old town, it belongs to that rare category of medieval civil residences that have survived the centuries without losing their architectural substance. While the town focuses most of its attention on its arenas and ancient theatre, this house is a powerful reminder that the Middle Ages in Arles were also a time of intense creativity. What sets the Maison des Amazones apart from the countless historic buildings in Arles is precisely its name - and the promise it holds. The female warrior figures from which it takes its name constitute a singular iconographic programme, at a time when ornamental sculpture on civil facades was part of a veritable social status. Only the wealthiest and most cultured patrons could afford such symbolic displays. A visit here is an intimate experience, far removed from the crowds that flock to the great Roman monuments. Strolling up to this house means immersing yourself in the authentic texture of Arles, with its worn cobblestones and pale ochre facades. The building reveals itself gradually, as the eye becomes accustomed to reading the stone and distinguishing, in the sculpted reliefs, the silhouettes of the mythological figures that gave the house its name. The surrounding setting - the narrow streets of the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site - heightens the emotion. Arles is not a static museum town; it is a living organism where two millennia of history are superimposed layer upon layer. The House of the Amazons is one of the most refined of these layers, a testimony to the prosperity and cultural ambition of the medieval Arlesian bourgeoisie.
Architecture
The Maison des Amazones is in the tradition of Provençal Romanesque and Gothic civil architecture, characterised by the use of golden limestone quarried in the Alpilles and Baux regions - the ubiquitous material that gives Arles its warm, luminous colour. The facade features the typical characteristics of medieval middle-class homes in the region: a sober vertical composition enlivened by semi-circular or slightly pointed arch openings, framed by carefully worked mouldings. The most remarkable feature is the sculpted decoration that gives the building its name. Powerfully curved female figures, reminiscent of the Amazons of Greek mythology, enliven the jambs and capitals of the openings. This iconographic programme, whose quality of execution bears witness to a skilled hand, combines ancient references and medieval sensibilities in a typically Arlesian synthesis. The local workshops, imbued with the lessons of the sculptors of the Saint-Trophime portal, knew how to blend Romanesque rigidity with the emerging suppleness of the Gothic style. The interior layout probably follows the classic layout of a Provençal medieval bourgeois house: the ground floor is used for commercial purposes or storage, with barrel or cross vaults supporting the living floors, and a main room on the first level, which benefits from the best lighting. The modifications made over the following centuries - openings, redistribution of spaces, addition of joinery - have not erased the legibility of the original structure.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur des Monuments historiques, initiateur des grandes campagnes de recensement du patrimoine provençal au XIXe siècleLes tailleurs de pierre provençaux des ateliers romans du XIIe-XIIIe siècle — artisans anonymes auteurs du décor sculptéLes chanoines et patriciens arlésiens du Moyen Âge — commanditaires présumés de l'édifice, issus des grandes familles marchandes du RhôneFrédéric Mistral — défenseur du patrimoine arlésien et de l'identité provençale, qui contribua indirectement à la valorisation de monuments comme celui-ciLes archéologues de la Société des Amis du Vieil Arles — érudits locaux du XIXe et XXe siècle qui documentèrent et défendirent l'inscription de la maison
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison des Amazones located?
Maison des Amazones is located in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, France.
When was Maison des Amazones built?
Maison des Amazones dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Maison des Amazones open to visitors?
Maison des Amazones is currently closed to visitors.