The Architecture of Provence and the Riviera

by David MacGibbon

After penetrating a mountain range by tunnel, the seacoast is reached, and some lovely bays are passed before sighting the lofty peaks of the mountains, each crowned with its fort, which surround and protect Toulon, the great arsenal of France on the Mediterranean. Architecturally there is little of interest in the town, but the harbour with its narrow antique quay, lined with houses fronting the basin, which is crowded with the peculiarly rigged trading vessels of the district, is well worthy of a visit. It recalls in some respects the Riva de’ Schiavoni at Venice, with its bustle and varied interest.

The railway to Hyères branches off the main line at La Pauline Station. Just before reaching this, the ancient and picturesque town of La Garde is passed. Its houses are clustered on the slope of a basaltic rock, the summit of which is crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle, and a church. The aspect of this old place forms a good introduction to the picturesque and decayed character of the numerous ancient towns to be met with all along the Riviera.

Hyères is the first reached in travelling eastwards of the great health resorts of the Riviera. It stands on the southern slope of a hill facing the sea, which is visible at a distance of about three miles off. The rocky summit of the hill is crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle, from which the steep and narrow streets of the old town radiate downwards. The town was formerly surrounded with walls, which have now been removed, and the space converted into a wide promenade, on which flourish the palms, oranges, and other tropical plants for which Hyères is famous. The modern houses and hotels are also situated on this fair terrace, while some remains of the gateways connected with the old ramparts are still preserved. Hyères stands high above the level of the sea and the plain which extends between it and the foot of the hill. It thus commands an extensive view to the south and south-west over the peninsula of Giens, and the Mediterranean dotted with the groups of Islands named after it, “les Iles d’Hyères.”

There is nothing remarkable in the history of Hyères. In Roman times a fortress existed here called Castrum Aræarum.

In the thirteenth century the place was held by the Count of Fos, who was dispossessed by Charles of Anjou. Thereafter the castle and town passed through the usual assaults and changes, and during the sixteenth century was in possession of the Catholics and Protestants in turn.

The enceinte of the castle ([Fig. 120]) is well preserved, many of the towers which strengthen it being almost entire. These are for the most part square and lofty, and have thus quite a Southern aspect. The original crenellations still exist, together with the holes for the short beams which carried the wooden hoardings for defence at the summit. The openings are generally long narrow slits, but in the eastern angle tower three small pointed windows occur. The keep is almost entirely demolished. It occupied the summit of the rock, and from its ruins a commanding and extensive prospect is obtained. The walls are probably not older than the thirteenth century. Within the enceinte the ground is laid out as a private vineyard.

FIG. 120. HYÈRES CASTLE.

In the middle of the old town stands the picturesque church of St Paul, approached from a terrace commanding a beautiful view seawards, by a wide staircase crowned with a corbelled tower. It is originally of the twelfth century, but has been altered. The walls of the east end have had to be brought up from a considerable depth, owing to the great slope of the ground, and the lower part of the buttresses shew work like that of the thirteenth century, but the upper part is later. Internally the church has four bays and an apse—all late—the caps of the piers being of Renaissance work. The central nave and aisles are all groined. A wide chapel crosses the building at the west end, and is surmounted with a plain square tower ([Fig. 121]) of the type of the Italian campanile, of which numerous specimens are to be met with at Grasse and elsewhere along the Riviera. The upper round arched doorway, with its immense voussoirs, indicates a style of work of which several examples are to be met with in the town, and which is doubtless of Moorish or Spanish origin.