Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; "Saint-Rémy of

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

Provençal Provençal may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Provence, a region of France ** Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France ** ''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language * Provenca ...

: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' ) is a commune in the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

. It is often referred to simply as Saint-Rémy, its official name until 12 April 1953. Located in the northern part of the

Alpilles The Alpilles ( , ) is a small range of low mountains in Provence, southern France, located about south of Avignon. Geography The range is an extension of the much larger Luberon range. Although it is not high – some 498 m (1,634 ft) ...

, of which it is the main town, it had a population of 9,692 as of 2020.

History

The town, which has been inhabited since

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

, was named after

Saint Remigius Remigius ( or ; – 13 January 533) was the Bishop of Reims and "Apostle of the Franks". On 25 December 496, he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. The baptism, leading to about 3000 additional converts, was an important event in the Christ ...

under the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name ''Villa Sancti Remigii''. From May 1889 to May 1890,

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

was a patient at the

Saint-Paul Asylum The Monastery of Saint Paul de Mausole () is a former Roman Catholic 11th—century Benedictine monastery in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, France. It was later administered by the Order of Saint Francis in 1605. Several rooms of the buildi ...

in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, and painted some of his most memorable works, including ''

The Starry Night ''The Starry Night'', often called simply ''Starry Night'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Sain ...

'', which features the town.

Geography

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is situated about south of

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, just north of the

mountain range.

Transportation

The Avignon TGV high-speed train station is from the city. The closest airports are serving the cities of Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. Also, there are several highways and main roads which serve Saint-Rémy. The

A7 autoroute The A7 Autoroutes of France, Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Soleil (English: the Motorway of the Sun) is a French motorway. It continues the A6 autoroute (France), A6 and links Lyon to Marseille. The autoroute du Soleil is long and fo ...

, which runs down the Valley of the Rhône and connects Lyon to Marseille via Orange, is about east of Saint-Rémy. The

A54 autoroute The A54 autoroute is a toll motorway in France managed by ASF and is close to 80 km long. It is part of European route E80. Route The motorway connects Salon-de-Provence with Nîmes and merges with the N113 between Saint-Martin-de-Crau and ...

runs from Nîmes to Salon-de-Provence, passing through Arles, away. Finally, the

A9 autoroute The A9 autoroute (''La Languedocienne''/''La Catalane'') is a motorway in Southern France. The road forms part of the European route E15, as does the A9 road (Scotland). The road runs between Orange and Perthus, in the Pyrénées-Orientales ...

is 20 km to the northwest and runs from Orange to Perpignan via Montpellier.

Climate

The climate in the Alpilles is considered Mediterranean. Winters there are gentle and dry, and summers are hot and dry. The highest average temperature is recorded in July and August , and the lowest in December and January . The rainiest month is January with an average of 7 rainy days, compared with July, the driest month, with an average of 2 rainy days. The Alpilles region receives more precipitation than the French Rivera, 1–2 cm more per year. There are about 30 days of frost per year. Snow is rare, but can be heavy when it does fall.

Demographics

Sights

The ruins of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

city of

Glanum Glanum (Hellenistic ''Γλανόν'', as well as Glano, Calum, Clano, Clanum, Glanu, Glano) was an ancient and wealthy city which still enjoys a magnificent setting below a gorge on the flanks of the Alpilles mountains. It is located about one kil ...

, including a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

, can still be seen on the southern outskirts of the city. The

in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is where

was a patient, from May 1889 to May 1890, and where he painted some of his most memorable works, including

which features the town. The site is now named the Clinique Van Gogh for him.

Notable people

Pierre Daboval Pierre Daboval (; 3 July 1918 – 11 May 2015) was a French artist. Daboval studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, the Académie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, 'plucking here and there from the teachings, until I had en ...

(1918–2015), artist, lived for many years in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence *

Marie Gasquet Marie Gasquet (; 1872–1960) was a French regionist writer from Provence. Biography Early life Marie Gasquet was born in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône in 1872. Her father, Marius Girard, was a Provençal poet. Her godfather was F ...

, a Provençale novelist and queen of the Felibrige *

, from May 1889 to May 1890, the famous Dutch painter was admitted to the Saint-Paul psychiatric hospital in Saint-Remy-de-Provence. He painted several paintings, including

Starry Night ''The Starry Night'', often called simply ''Starry Night'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint ...

. *

Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire (; 1670June 29, 1739), also known as Sononchiez by the Iroquois, was a French army officer and interpreter for New France who worked with the Iroquois tribes during the French and Indian Wars in the early 18th cen ...

, (1670–1739), French army officer and interpreter in New France *

Princess Caroline of Monaco Princess Caroline of Monaco (born 23 January 1957) is Princess of Hanover by marriage to Prince Ernst August. As the eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace Kelly, she is the elder sister of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and ...

and her children lived in Saint-Rémy for several years following the death of her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi * Pablo Daniel Magee, writer, journalist and playwright grew up in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence *

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...

, a 16th-century author of

prophecies In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divi ...

Twin towns

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is twinned with: *

Pfarrkirchen Pfarrkirchen () is a municipality in southern Lower Bavaria Germany, the capital of the district Rottal-Inn. It has about 12,500 inhabitants and is an important school centre with about 10,000 pupils from all over Lower Bavaria. The town spre ...

Bientina Bientina () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany. History The toponym Bientina is attested the first time in 793 as Blentina and probably comes from the Etruscan name Plitine. Geography Terri ...

References

External links

Saint Rémy de Provence Tourist office website

Official site
(in French)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintremydeprovence Communes of Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia