The Roman village of Riez in the Alpes de Haute, Provence in France was first recorded in the 1st century. A tightly clustered village in an oval, Riez is situated in the fertile Colostre valley, at the junction of two small rivers, the Auvestre and Colostre.Riez in Provence, is in the middle of the lavender-growing region, and is known as the 'Capitale de la Lavande'. The Roman 'Temple of Appollo' was between the village and river, and here is where the remains of the four magnificent granite Corinthian pillars can still be seen. These six meter polished columns, with the carved marble capitals and architraves, are all that remains of the temple which once housed healing baths.Southeast of the temple a 5th century baptistery still stands, although the dome was rebuilt in the 12th century. One of the oldest baptistery in France, it remains as one of the few still to be found from the era of the Christian Gauls. ... continue below the picture...
... An interesting discovery was made when an old cathedral was demolished in the 15th century, and a large Roman public building, from around the 1st century, was uncovered.Although the village of Riez, in Provence is old, the Mont St. Maxine, which is only 120 meters higher than Riez, was a fort/capital fo a Celto Ligurian tribe, called the Reil in 400BC.The charming village of Riez in Provence has a 'porte' on either side - the Porte Aiguiere as the east entrance and the Porte St-Sols as the west entrance. There are many festivals and entertainment for villagers and tourists to enjoy. Although Riez, the temple and baptistery are full of history and ancient times it seems a little incongruous to find a television antenna standing proudly on the hill - a blending of the old and the new.Old and New, Columns of the Roman temple remains, colonnes romaines, from the 1st century near the river Colostre backdropped by a TV Antenna in the village of Riez, Alpes de Haute, Provence, France, Europe.
Technical Information:
I photographed this photo with the digital SLR camera model Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, aperture of f/7.1, exposure time of 1/125 sec. on ISO 100, as always I used a original Canon Lens, the focus lenght for this picture was 34mm.