Arles's Roman and Romanesque monuments on the World Heritage list

Map of 5 locations in Arles, France

In 1981 UNESCO inscribed not a town but a set of specific coordinates in Arles, and the nomination file names them one by one: an amphitheatre of the 80s AD, a theatre a century older, baths from the city's 4th-century revival, a necropolis, an obelisk from a vanished circus. Most had already been classified by the French state in 1840, so each carries two reference numbers, a Mérimée file and a World Heritage component code. What follows tracks those listed elements rather than the Roman town in general, with what is actually standing at each and how you get in.

Places in this collection

  • Obélisque d'Arles — The twenty-metre granite shaft once stood on the spina of the Roman circus and is now one of the monuments named individually in the 1981 W…
  • Alyscamps — The burial ground outside the walls served Arles from the Roman period and became a Christian necropolis important enough that bodies were…
  • Thermes de Constantin — These baths went up in the early 4th century, during the second period of prosperity the UNESCO citation attributes to Arles alongside the…
  • Théâtre antique d'Arles — Built at the end of the 1st century BC, the theatre survives mainly as its orchestra, tiers and the two standing columns that framed the ro…
  • Arènes d'Arles — The amphitheatre was raised around 80-90 AD on the orders of Domitian, part of the Flavian enlargement of the colony of Arelate. It was cla…

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