Art Square

The large building on your left is called the Art Square. It’s a contemporary art museum made of glass, concrete and steel, designed by Norman Foster and inaugurated in 1993. Norman Foster was a British architect known for his work in high-tech architecture, a new movement that emerged in the 1970s. In fact, he was one of its leading exponents, along with Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. It was the city’s mayor, Jean Bousquet, who decided to build the Art Square in 1984. The new building replaced a former neo-classical theatre built in 1800, of which only the façade remained after a fire almost completely destroyed it in 1952. Long before that, in ancient times, this was the site of the Roman forum, the city’s main square, just beside the Maison Carrée. Nowadays, the space is occupied by one of the city’s most modern buildings. The ruins of the old theatre were removed and replaced by a museum inspired by the Georges Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture, inaugurated a few years prior in Paris. It houses a permanent collection of almost 600 works of contemporary art, ranging from the 1960s to date, as well as temporary exhibitions, a library and a documentation centre specialising in contemporary art. You must purchase a ticket to enter the museum. Don’t miss out on a visit if you’re a lover of contemporary art.