Triumphal Arch of Orange
Arc antique d'Orange
- UNESCO World Heritage
Interesting facts
- The arch was among the monuments on France's very first list of protected historic monuments, drawn up in 1840.
- Unusually, it carries a second attic made of linked pedestals that once supported monumental statues, all of them now lost.
- Several of the carved shields bear names such as Sacovir, Decurdus and Mario, possibly those of sculptors or well-known armourers.
- The Second Legion is identified in the battle reliefs by its emblem, a capricorn, carved on an officer's shield on the north face.
- A single bronze letter L from the lost dedication was found in the 19th century and then mislaid; only the fixing holes survive.
- In 1862 the scholar Pierre Herbert read the holes as a dedication to Augustus around 10 BC, a reading historians have long abandoned.
- The surviving dedication to Tiberius was squeezed onto a narrow ribbed band never meant for lettering, so its two lines must have looked cramped.
- Prosper Mérimée singled out the panels of naval trophies, with prows, anchors, tridents and steering oars, for the quality of their carving.
- Auguste Caristie rebuilt almost the entire west side, deliberately leaving its sculptures only roughed out so that the new work stays recognisable.
- A 19th-century engraving shows a guillotine set up beneath the arch during the Terror, though historians doubt the scene is accurate.
Why it is worth it
The Triumphal Arch of Orange is one of the best-preserved Roman arches anywhere, and the oldest surviving example of the three-bay design later used for the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Arch of Constantine in Rome itself. It stands on the old Via Agrippa at the northern entrance to Orange, a town in the Rhône valley. With the town's Roman theatre, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its exceptional state of preservation.
Its date is still debated. Current research that accepts the evidence of its inscription places it in the reign of Augustus, built to honour the veterans of the Gallic Wars and the Second Legion; it was later rededicated under Tiberius to celebrate the victories of Germanicus on the Rhine, with an inscription to the emperor in AD 27. The bronze letters of that inscription are lost, and attempts to reconstruct the text from the holes that held them have not succeeded.
The arch is built of large limestone blocks laid without mortar, about 19 metres high and nearly 20 metres wide, with a large central passage flanked by two smaller ones and four Corinthian half-columns on each main face. The carving is dense and warlike: piles of captured weapons and armour, ship's prows and anchors recalling naval victories, and battle scenes of Romans fighting Gauls and Germans, in which a legionary carries a shield marked with the Second Legion. The pockmarks on the stone are said to be the work of medieval crossbowmen using it for target practice.
In the Middle Ages the arch was built into the town walls as a fortified gate, which helped preserve it, and the architect Auguste Caristie studied and restored it in the late 1820s. Today it stands free again on the north side of town, a short walk from the centre and the Roman theatre.
Getting there
The arch is at the northern edge of Orange, about 600 m from the town centre. Avignon Caumont Airport (AVN) is about 27 km away, though Marseille Provence and Nîmes are larger options; Avignon itself is about 30 km south. Orange station is served by TGV and regional TER trains, with direct TGVs from Paris taking about 3 hours 20 minutes. By car, the town lies at the junction of the A7 and A9 motorways.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Roman Theatre of Orange 0.8 km · roman-theatre
- Pont Saint-Bénézet 20.9 km · bridge
- Palais des Papes 21.3 km · palace
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Triumphal Arch of Orange is a triumphal arch located in the town of Orange, southeast France. There is debate about when the arch was built, but current research that accepts the inscription as evidence favours a date during the reign of emperor Augustus. It was built on the former via Agrippa to honor the veterans of the Gallic Wars and Legio II Augusta. It was later reconstructed by emperor Tiberius to celebrate the victories of deceased general Germanicus over the German tribes in Rhineland. The arch contains an inscription dedicated to emperor Tiberius in AD 27. Along with the Roman Theatre of Orange, the Triumphal Arch was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981 because of its exceptional preservation.
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