The “city of a thousand fountains,” Aix-en-Provence was founded in 123 BC by Sextius, a Roman consul who was drawn to the area by the presence of thermal springs and the location, at the meeting point of routes leading to Spain and Italy. In the 12th century, Aix became the capital of the region of Provence. In the 15th century, under the reign of “good King René,” the city was an important center of artistic life.

Cathédrale de Saint-Sauveur

In the 13th century Gothic cathedral, on the wall of the nave, stands the remarkable 15th century triptych by Nicolas Froment, painted around 1470 and entitled the Tryptique du Buisson Ardent (“Burning Bush Triptych”). It depicts King René and his wife Joan, kneeling on both sides of the Virgin Mary, who sits in the burning bush in which God appeared to Moses.
Other interesting items are the 16th century walnut carved doors, the Merovingian baptistry (at the end of the nave, on the right) and the tranquil Romanesque cloister which stands on the exact location of the city’s forum at the time of the Roman emperor Augustus.

Cours Mirabeau

This famous esplanade, dating from 1646, is the center of Aix social life, as well as a divider between the narrow medieval streets to the north and the elegant 18th century mansions with sculpted doorways and wrought iron balconies to the south. Three of the best fountains are located on the Cours.
Famous Sons of Aix

Aix-en Provence is the birthplace of two of France’s most creative and representative sons: the artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), and the novelist Émile Zola (1840-1902). The studio of the former is still preserved, as it was when he died in 1906. The Paul Cézanne studio museum does not display any of his major pictures, but the visit among his personal belongings, many of which he painted in his still-life’s, is worthwhile by itself.
Points of interest

The former match factory has become the “City of Books,” housing the city library.The first ever Japanese “No” theater in Europe is located in Aix, as well as one of the oldest café-theaters in France, the “Fontaine d’Argent.”
Fabrics:

Back to the middle of the XVII th. Century, we find the origins of Provencal fabric.
On the countryside, the breeding of "magnans" (silkworms) by farmers was one of their only reliable revenues.
At the start of the XIX th. Century, spinning, made by productors of cocoons or by a few rare workshops, was still rudimentary. The modern cotton industry was born in 1664 with the creation of the "Compagnie des Indes" (India Company). The linens coming from the Indies through Marseille via the sea, had bright colors. These linens called "Indiennes", knew a real success in Provence, but because of their costly prices, the French textile industry started to create its own fabrication workshops. Installed in Avignon, the "Indienneurs" moved to Orange after the prohibition of the activity by the Pope. The last manufacturer closed its doors in the last century.

The making needed many steps. The first was to whiten the linens. Heated, then dried, they were decorated with the help of drawings already made on a piece of paper with little holes (stencils). If you rub this paper on charcoal, the drawing appears. Then the colors are put on, thanks to a wooden board carved in relief. The female workers called "pince sauteuses" retouch the drawings with a paintbrush. At last the "Indiennes" were washed and dried.
In Provence, the coton fabrics, in spite of the industrial mechanization and the progressive disappeareance of factories, always remained faithfull to the ancient techniques. Today, printed by hand or by big brass rollers, the productions are inspired by craftsmen's drawings, sculpted and made more than two hundred years ago, and use authentic ancient documents to find treasures of design, always renewed.
Today the fabrics of Provence are sold world-wide, fabrics, shawls, scarves, fashion accessories, and gift items.

Markets in Aix en Provence

The Aix en Provence markets animate the town with colors and noises. In the shadows of big umbrellas the market gardeners display their fruits and vegetables offering a shimmering palettes from which emanate the smell of fresh mint, basil, rosemary and spices.
The culinary imagination takes its source there. It is also the place where people from Aix meet and talk.
The "big" markets of Aix take place three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays) in the city center squares: Place des Prêcheurs and Place de la Madeleine and in the surrounding areas (Encagnane, Jas de Bouffan...). Saturday being the busiest day.
Under the plane trees of the little Place Richelme takes place, all year round, a charming market with greengrocers who attract not only the housekeepers and the restaurants' chefs, but also the tourists who can find typical pictures to take.

In Aix there are as many markets as days in the week. From the vegetable market to the old book market, without forgetting the flower market. Places for meeting and discovery, notably that of the sun-soaked gastronomic heritage, they are to be found in the numerous squares of the town centre and in the various “quarters” different areas of the town.

Three days a week, on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays, the town resounds throughout the entire morning with the animation of its large markets: the "grands marches" (large markets) of fruit and vegetables take place in the Place des Precheurs, the Place de la Madeleine and in the "quarters" of Encagnane and of the Jas de Bouffan. Under the plane trees of the Place Richelme you will find the market of the producers of Aix and its surrounding region, 7 days a week, all year round.
All are in the image of Provencal cuisine: authentic fresh varied and perfumed.

- Opposite the town hall, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the flower market changes the square into a real colorful area.
- Another pleasure for the eye and antique hunters, the bric-à-brac trade —antiques, handicrafts and demonstrators fill the place de Verdun, in front of the Palais de Justice on these same days.

Vineyards:
In the heart of historical Provence between Durance and the Mediterranean, between the Sainte Victoire and the Alpilles, stretches the land of Wines of Guaranteed Origin (A.O.C.) the "Vineyards of Aix en Provence".
Each year, among over 200 wines from the vineyards of Aix-en-Provence, the vintage rewards the town with the best of whites, rosés and reds.