Forum Square

Welcome to the Place du Forum! Van Gogh immortalized it on canvas in his iconic painting “Café Terrace at Night”. There are actually two paintings. One shows the inside of the café with a pool table, which Gauguin also painted; the other shows the brightly lit terrace under a starry sky. Fun fact: the cafe’s actually painted yellow to match the painting – the artist himself tells us that it only takes on a yellow hue at night, under the candlelight. The café has to share the spotlight with the statue of writer Frédéric Mistral, who gazes upon the bustling square. Mistral is one of the few French writers to have won the Nobel Prize for a work written in Provençal and Occitan, dialects not officially recognized by the State. Now back to the Place du Forum! This square was already a major hub in the 1st century AD! Imagine being right at the heart of Roman economic, political, and administrative life! Right beneath your feet, hidden from sight, are the cryptoporticus that supported the Forum. And all around you stood a beautiful colonnaded square. You can still see some remnants of those granite columns by the corner of the Hotel Nord Pinus.