Alyscamps Roman Necropolis
A ten-minute walk from the amphitheatre, the Alyscamps is one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world — a long, poplar-lined avenue of open Roman sarcophagi that once stretched for over a kilometre outside the city walls. Van Gogh and Gauguin painted it side by side in autumn 1888; today it remains startlingly quiet, visited by a fraction of the tourists who queue for Les Arènes.
Walking the Avenue of the Dead
The approach along the Allée des Sarcophages sets the mood immediately: dozens of eroded stone coffins line the path beneath towering poplars, their lids long since removed or stolen. The avenue terminates at the Romanesque church of Saint-Honorat, whose ruined apse and single surviving tower frame a view that has barely changed since the 12th century.
At the far end, the smaller church of Saint-Césaire-le-Vieux is often unlocked and contains medieval frescoes that most visitors walk straight past. Step inside — it takes only five minutes and the frescoes are genuinely moving.
The Van Gogh Connection
Van Gogh produced four paintings of the Alyscamps during the famous weeks he shared a studio with Gauguin in October–November 1888. Gauguin painted the same scene from a slightly different angle; the two works now hang in different museums worldwide, but standing at the spot where both easels were set up — near the entrance gate — is a quietly electric moment.
The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles on Place Honoré Clair, a ten-minute walk away, contextualises these works beautifully with contemporary art responding to Van Gogh's Arles period.
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