Musée du Vieil-Aix, Aix-en-Provence Travel Guide

The Musée du Vieil-Aix, or Museum of Old Aix, is located in the Hôtel Estienne de Saint-Jean, a beautiful 17th-century private mansion at 17 rue Gaston de Saporta. Since 1932, it has served as Aix's museum of city history. The collections, primarily from founder Marie d'Estienne de Saint-Jean's donations, highlight facets of Aix's history within a beautiful aristocratic setting.The museum showcases decorative arts such as furniture, gilded leather hangings, and decor elements from Aix's private mansions. Historical objects linked to Aix's traditions, like puppets from the Fête-Dieu (Corpus Christi) procession, are also on display. You can also find paintings depicting Aix landscapes. A highlight is the paravent (screen) from the Fête-Dieu, which evokes the religious and secular parades that have taken place since the 13th century.One of the museum's unusual exhibits is a model of a dome designed for the baptistery of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome by Giovanni Battista Gaulli. The project was abandoned after Gaulli's death, and the model was later acquired by an Aix resident before finding its home in the museum. The museum also features Provençal santons, small painted terracotta figurines used in nativity scenes, a tradition that began during the French Revolution. Labels and explanations are in French.