FIG. 78. RENAISSANCE HOUSE IN ARLES.
The buildings of this period in Arles are particularly rich in tabernacles or niches at the corners of the streets, filled with the image of a saint, before which hangs a lamp. These are not uncommon in most continental towns, but here some of them are very finely designed and add much to the generally quaint and striking character of the houses.
Of the Renaissance buildings of Arles the Hôtel de Ville is worthy of observation. The Tour de l’Horloge (1550), is a good specimen, and the vaulting and general effect of the pillared hall and staircase are fine (1675).
About three miles from Arles stand the ruins of the great monastic establishment of Mont-majour, which comprise a most interesting series of structures, illustrative of Provençal architecture in all its stages, from the primitive rock-hewn hermitage of St Trophime to the fully developed church of the Cistertian style, concluding with a rich and luxurious edifice of the time of the Renaissance.
FIG. 79. PLAN OF HERMITAGE OF ST CESAIRE, MONT-MAJOUR.
This monastery is situated on a rocky hill which rises out of the flat plain of the Rhone, and which, in Roman times, was undoubtedly an island surrounded by the waters of the river. Near the base of the south-east side of the rock, a cave is said to have formed the hermitage of St Trophime, the patron saint of Arles ([Fig. 79]). To preserve and consecrate this hermitage it was converted into a chapel, and enclosed with an arcade (the inner one) cut in the rock. To this again at a later time an outer wall has been added so as to form a chapel, dedicated to St Peter, on the exterior of the cave. Beyond the east end of the chapel there are three additional rude chambers hollowed out of rock. One of these, which is nearly filled with a great stone seat, is called the confessional of St Trophime. At the west end there is a space forming a kind of entrance porch or narthex.
The ancient chapel or hermitage is entirely excavated in the rock, and has a seat left along the inner side, which being continued round the east end forms a step up to the choir. This chapel may be of a very early date, but it is impossible to fix its age from the total absence of architectural features.