AIX, or, to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, Aix-en-Provence, a city of south-eastern France, capital of an arrondissement
in the department of Bouches-du-Rhone, 18 m. N. of Marseilles
by rail. Pop. (1906) 19,433. It is situated in a plain
overlooking the Arc, about a mile from the right bank of the
river. The Cours Mirabeau, a wide thoroughfare, planted
with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses
and decorated by three fountains, divides the town into two
portions. The new town extends to the south, the old town
with its wide but irregular streets and its old mansions
dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries lies to the
north. Aix is an important educational centre, being the
seat of the faculties of law and letters of the university of
Aix-Marseille, and the north and east quarter of the town,
where the schools and university buildings are situated, is
comparable to the Latin Quarter of Paris. The cathedral of St
Sauveur, which dates from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries,
is situated in this portion of Aix. It is preceded by a rich
portal in the Gothic style with elaborately carved doors, and
is flanked on the north by an uncompleted tower. The interior
contains tapestry of the 16th century and other works of
art. The archbishop's palace and a Romanesque cloister adjoin
the cathedral on its south side. The church of St Jean de
Malto, dating from the 13th century, contains some valuable
pictures. The hotel de ville, a building in the classical style
of the middle of the 17th century, looks on to a picturesque
square. It contains some fine wood-work and a large library
which includes many valuable MSS. At its side rises a handsome
clock-tower erected in 1505. Aix possesses many beautiful
fountains, one of which in the Cours Mirabeau is surmounted
by a statue of Rene, count of Provence, who held a brilliant
court at Aix in the 15th century. Aix has thermal springs,
remarkable for their heat and containing lime and carbonic
acid. The bathing establishment was built in 1705 near the
site of the ancient baths of Sextius, of which vestiges still
remain. The town, which is the seat of an archbishop and
court of appeal, and the centre of an academie (educational
circumscription), numbers among its public institutions
a Court of assizes, tribunals of first instance and of
commerce, and a chamber of arts and manufactures. It also has
training-colleges, a lycee, a school of art and technics,
museums of antiquities, natural history and painting,
and several learned societies. The industries include
flour-milling, the manufacture of confectionery, iron-ware
and hats, and the distillation of olive-oil. Trade is in
olive-oil, almonds and stone from the neighbouring quarries.
Aix (Aquae Sextiae) was founded in 123 B.C. by the
Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its
springs. In 102 B.C. its neighbourhood was the scene of
the defeat inflicted on the Cimbri and Teutones by Marius.
In the 4th century it became the metropolis of Narbonensis
Secunda. It was occupied by the Visigoths in 477, in the
succeeding century was repeatedly plundered by the Franks
and Lombards, and was occupied by the Saracens in 731. Aix,
which during the middle ages was the capital of the county
of Provence, did not reach its zenith until after the 12th
century, when, under the houses of Aragon and Anjou, it became
an artistic centre and seat of learning. With the rest of
Provence, it passed to the crown of France in 1487, and in
1501 Louis XII. established there the parlement of Provence
which existed till 1789. In the 17th and 18th centuries
the town was the seat of the intendance of Provence.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia