Vaison-la-Romaine
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Vaison-la-Romaine seen from high in the medieval upper town
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 Vaison-la-Romaine
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Location within Provence-A.-C.d'A. region
Vaison-la-Romaine
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| Coordinates: 44°14′32″N 5°04′21″E / 44.2422°N 5.0724°ECoordinates: 44°14′32″N 5°04′21″E / 44.2422°N 5.0724°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | |
| Department | Vaucluse | |
| Arrondissement | Carpentras | |
| Canton | Vaison-la-Romaine | |
| Intercommunality | Pays Voconces | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Jean-François Périlhou | |
| Area1 | 26.99 km2 (10.42 sq mi) | |
| Population (2013)2 | 6,089 | |
| • Density | 230/km2 (580/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 84137 / 84110 | |
| Elevation | 156–493 m (512–1,617 ft) (avg. 204 m or 669 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Vaison-la-Romaine (Latin: Vasio Vocontiorum) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.The French archaeologist and hellenist Henri Metzger (1912–2007) died here.
The historic section is in two parts, the Colline du Château on a height on one side of the Ouvèze, the "upper city" and on the opposite bank, the "lower city" centered on the Colline de la Villasse.
Vaison-la-Romaine is famous for its rich Roman ruins, medieval town and cathedral. What makes Vaison-la-Romaine so unique is the possibility to see the antic, medieval and modern towns within the same environment, 2,000 years of history. A large share of collections originating from Vaison-la-Romaine are now dispersed among 25 museums worldwide, mostly in Europe and North America.
With four theaters, numerous exhibitions and galeries, Vaison-la-Romaine is also renown for its art scene. Many writers, painters and actors live in the area.
The area was inhabited in the Bronze Age. At the end of the fourth century BCE, the upper city of Vaison became the capital of a Celtic tribe, the Vocontii or Voconces. After the Roman conquest (125-118 BCE) the Vocontii retained a certain degree of autonomy; they had two capitals, Luc-en-Diois (in modern Drôme département), apparently the religious center, and Vaison. Their continued authority in the gradual Romanization of the Celtic oppidum meant that the city plan incurred no disruptive re-founding along rigid Roman orthography. The city's modern archaeologist Christian Goudineau has suggested that early examples were set by Vocontian aristocrats who moved down from the oppidum and established villas along the river, around which the Gallo-Roman city accreted. In the Roman period it became one of the richest cities of Gallia Narbonensis, with numerous geometric mosaic pavements a fine small theatre on a rocky hillslope, probably built during the reign of Tiberius, whose statue was found in a prominent place on its site. The Polyclitan Vaison Diadumenos (now in the British Museum) was discovered in the theatre in the nineteenth century. At Vasio Pompeius Trogus, the Augustan historian, was born.
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Wikipedia