In our trip to France we have been in the town of Orange, situated on the river Rhone. There you can admire the best preserved and one of the largest Roman theatres, from the Augustean period. The wall of the façade, 103 m long and 37 m high, is completely preserved and has arches and blend arcades. The theatre was deprived only of his marbles and decorations and now there are few remains, like the statue of Augustus (3,55 m high), reconstructed with the original fragments and removed to the central niche of the scene wall; it was used in Baroque period by Maurits van Oranje-Nassau like a quarry and restored since 1840 (in particular the stairs). Adjacent to the theatre are the remains of a temple with circular apse, from the Hadrian period, a gymnasium, an altar and a nymphaeum; on the hill behind them is the capitol. The Triumphal Arch, constructed on the Agrippa Road (that brought from Lyon to Arles) in the period of Augustus, is preserved very well; in the 13th century it became a small fort and was restored since the 18th century. It celebrates the Roman peace and the veterans of the 2nd Gallic legion, that fought agianst the Gauls. It has three arches with coffered ceilings, tympanums, attics, twelve columns and beautiful relieves.

Orange is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen because of the impressiveness and the proportions of its Roman monuments. They are absolutely worth to be visited and justify the inscription also as the most preserved Roman theatre in the world and the most conserved Roman Arch in France, but I think that also other Roman monuments in Provence (like that in Nîmes or Saint-Rémy-de-Provence) could be inscibed alone or together with one, two or all of the WHS of Arles, Orange and Pont du Gard.

Photo: Roman Theatre