Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Sauveur cloister of Aix-en-Provence was built around 1190 by the canons of the cathedral, south of the nave of Corpus Domini. It occupies part of the ancient Roman castellam forum founded in 122 B.C. by Caius Sextius Calvinus, but restructured in the first century with a cardo and a decumanus. This cloister is distinguished from other provencal buildings (such as those of Arles or Montmajour) by its unveiled galleries, covered with a structure, and its slender, geminous columns, without massive foothills. Only its four corner pillars, adorned with the four living pillars of Revelation (the man, the lion, the eagle and the bull), bear carved evangelical symbols.

The historic access was through a solemn gate to the south, opening on the square of the archdiocese. To the east, an 11th century dormitory remodeled in the 14th century housed the canons, while the south wing housed the provost. The west gallery preserves a marble slab engraved with an acrostiche, perhaps the epitaph of Bishop Basile. On 16 April 1601 the provost Gilbert-Charles Desbiès was murdered there by crushing (saquettar), a crime attributed without proof to Bernardin Delphin-Gonzard, imprisoned and then released for lack of evidence. Ranked a historic monument in 1875, the cloister combines Roman heritage, Roman art and tragic stories.

The four pillars of the cloister embody a complex Christian iconography. The southwest pillar (A) represents St Matthew via a smiling angel, guiding the visitor through water waves. The northwestern pillar (B) shows Saint Mark as a lion holding a book, while the northeastern pillar (C) associates Saint Peter (key and Bible) with the eagle of St John. Finally, the south-east pillar (D) carries a bull, symbol of St Luke, evoking strength and fertility. These sculptures, combined with architectural lightness, make the cloister a masterpiece of Provençal Romanesque art.

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