Arles Antique Museum (Musée Départemental Arles Antique)

The Musée départemental Arles antique stands on the Rhône, on the edge of the old town, on the site of the Roman circus where chariot races were once held. The building, designed by the architect Henri Ciriani and opened in 1995, is a bold blue triangle of concrete and glass, which has led people to call it the Blue Museum. It was created to hold the finds from the many excavations in Arles, which was one of the major cities of Roman Gaul, and its Roman monuments are part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing.

The collections cover the period from prehistory through the Roman era to late antiquity, with the emphasis on Arles under Rome. Scale models show the layout of the Roman town, with its forum, theatre, amphitheatre, baths and circus, so you can place the monuments you will see on the streets, such as the Théâtre Antique and the Arles Amphitheatre. There are also reconstructions of tombs, inscriptions, and everyday objects, including pottery, glass and tools.

The museum is internationally known for finds from the Rhône. Underwater archaeologists, including Luc Long, have worked on the riverbed in Arles for years and recovered a large number of objects. Two of the highlights come from that work. One is a marble bust, found in 2007, widely presented as the oldest known portrait of Julius Caesar made in his lifetime, though this attribution is debated by scholars. The other is the Arles-Rhône 3, a Roman river barge from the first century AD, found in 2004 and raised and restored, about thirty metres long and displayed in a hall dedicated to it. It is one of the better-preserved Roman cargo vessels known.

Other rooms hold mosaics, including the Aiôn mosaic, which shows the god of time and eternity with the zodiac and was found in a Roman house in the city. There are statues, carved sarcophagi such as the Sarcophagus of Phaedra and Hippolytus, and objects linked to early Christian Arles, which had a significant community and a major cemetery. The upper galleries have views across the river.

A visit takes about ninety minutes to two hours, and the museum is well laid out with displays that work for different ages, including families and school groups. The museum is a little away from the centre, a pleasant walk by the river from the Cryptoportique and Église Saint-Trophime, and it is a good place to start a day of sightseeing in Arles. It suits anyone interested in Roman history, ships or archaeology.