Aix-en-Provence
www.mairie-aixenprovence.fr
Halfway between Spain and Italy
on the way Domitia, Aquae Sextiae, Roman city created in
122 before C by Consul Sextius around his many sources of
cold and warm water and its thermal baths, Aix-en-Provence
affirms itself like the capital of Provincia Romana.
It becomes in the Antiquity a very frequented vacation
resort whose importance and influence will not cease
growing during one long period. The city still carries the
traces of this flourishing time.
Episcopal city in the 5th
century, Aix-en-Provence became capital of the County of
Provence in the Middle Ages, and in the 15th century, land
of a refined civilization which will radiate in all Europe,
thanks to the creation of the Law University in 1409 and to
the settlment of Rene d'Anjou, son of the Kinf Louis II and
its court.
With the installation of the Parliament of Provence in 1501
and the birth of the law aristocracy, the city knows until
the 18th century a formidable architectural expansion with
the creation of new districts of sumptuous private mansions
and many decorated places of fountains, testifying a real
urban unit.
City of art and culture,
Aix-en-Provence, cradle of famous artists, writers and
intellectuals, is rich of a prestigious past and an
animated cultural life.
The city took advantage of its
assets of crossroads city on the Rhone river axis between
Northern Europe and Southern Europe and profits from a good
road infrastructure, motorway and railway (with TGV it
takes 2:50 only to go to Paris and 1:10 to Lyon) and its
proximity to Marseille Provence airport.
Thoses latest years, the city
has seen a huge demografic development. It counts now
around 140 000 inhabitants on a territory of 18 600
hectares, which makes it the 6th biggest city in France.
Its population is still growing which brought the council
to build the biggest urban planning project in Europe in a
city center: the project Sextius-Mirabeau.
These assets enabled an unseen economic growth with the
development of crafts, industries and services. A
University is completing theis innovative economic pole (40
000 students).
