Aix-en-Provence - City of France

Aix , to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city in southern France, some 30 km north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Its inhabitants are called Aixois.

Aix was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its springs. In 102 BC its neighbourhood was the scene of the Battle of Aquae Sextiae when Romans under Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri and Teutones, with mass suicides among the captured women, which passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism.

Aix passed to the crown of France with the rest of Provence in 1487, and in 1501 Louis XII established there the parliament of Provence, which existed until 1789. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was the seat of the Intendance of Provence.

Current archeological excavations in the Ville des Tours, a medieval suburb of Aix, have unearthed the remains of a roman amphitheatre.

Aix-en-Provence is situated in a plain overlooking the Arc, about a mile from the right bank of the river. The city slopes gently from north to south and the Montagne Sainte-Victoire can easily be seen to the east. Aix's position in the south of France gives it a warm climate.

Aix has long been a university town: Louis II of Anjou granted a royal charter for a university in 1409. Today Aix remains an important educational centre, with many teaching and research institutes:

-Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, specialising in the humanities in Aix.

-Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II

-Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III, specialising principally in law, economics, political science and administration in Aix.

-Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence , an Institute of Political Studies a military academy

-Institut de l'Aménagement Régional, an institute in the Université Paul Cézanne for town and country planning.

-École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers

-Institut d'Etudes Françaises pour Etudiants Etrangers , a language school in the Université Paul Cézanne for foreign students of all levels of French proficiency
Lycée George Duby, an international secondary school in Luynes, on the outskirts of Aix, taking a large number of English-speaking students.

Aix holds two significant musical events each year.

An important opera festival, the 'Festival international d'Art Lyrique' founded in 1948 which now ranks with those in Bayreuth, Salzburg and Glyndebourne. The current director is Bernard Foccroulle, director of la Monnaie in Brussels. The festival takes place in late June and July each year. The main venues in Aix itself are the outdoor Théâtre de l'Archévêché in the former garden of the archbishop's palace, the recently restored 18th century Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, and the newly built Grand Théâtre de Provence; operas are also staged in the outdoor Théâtre du Grand Saint-Jean outside Aix.

This takes place each year in June to coincide with the national 'Fête de la Musique.' There is a week of classical, jazz and popular concerts held in different street venues and courtyards in the city. Some of these events are held in the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud, named in honour of the French composer, a native of Aix.