Les Rencontres d’Arles festival annuel de la photographie

The Cross of Camargue is one of the major symbols of the Camargue. The painter Hermann-Paul drew it in 1924, and stands for faith, hope and charity, mentioned in the Bible, in the first letter to the Corinthians. It is the union of three symbols into a cross: an anchor, a heart and three gardian's tridents.

The anchor is the fishers' one, as well as the anchor of the boat of the Saint Marys who came there, according to the legend, to christianize the Camargue and carry hope. The heart stands for charity, and the tridents recall in a same unity the gardians -the bull breeders that hold it to lead the herd- and Christian faith.

It usually decorates each home and public places in the towns of the Camargue : Le Cailar, the Saintes-Maries, Mauguio, and is an essential piece of the local folklore.

History would say, the Camargue belongs to Provence, as this one covers the lands from Nice to the West of Nimes, and to Avignon, to the North. Although many make a very strong distinction between Camargue, looking to the South, and Provence, turned towards East and southern Alps, the main reason to do so could just be that Provence is often associated with tourism in the French Riviera, or even to the high plains where lavender grows... The land of Camargue, still, stands only 30km away from Marseille, hardly more from Aix-en-Provence. St-Remy and Les Baux-de-Provence, in the Alpilles mountains, are also very close to Arles. Last, the dialects you may still hear between Istres and the Cevennes mountains are all relative to the language of Provencal writer Frederic Mistral, and compose the so-called “provencal rhodanien”.

Still, the traveller crossing the Grand Rhone would have to be surprised by such a variation. Right, history and culture confirm that this Occitan land is tightly connected to Provence ; nevertheless, it doesn't give any proper explanation to its deep singularity. Land of fishermen and breeders where all roads gather up, between Provencal folklore and Catalan influence, more : land of pilgrimage, the Camargue, let alone its unique landscapes, proposes an achieved alliance of several traditions, and of several People.

So, it may be pretty paradoxical to find in Camargue, or even in Petite-Camargue (to the West), the most beautiful vestiges of the Roman Provincia, in Arles of course, but in Nimes as well, with its own arena, the Magne Tower, or the Maison Carrée.

Placed by the mouth of the Petit Rhone, on the Mediterranean Sea, the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer are the heart of historical Camargue. Caught between sand beaches and Camarguese ponds, it turns out to be all-year long a most pleasant, peaceful and original place to stay, and a privileged summer spot for holidays on the shore. The Saintes-Maries are also well-known due to its thalassotherapy centers.

This little town of 2500 souls lives on the rhythm of seasons and pilgrimages. The tradition tells us that this is where the four Saints came from the sea, who christianized the Camargue : the three Saint Marys and Saint-Sarah, also known as Sarah-the-Black, patron saint to the Gipsies. A fortified church from the XI-XIIth Centuries was built there in dedication to them, nowadays surrounded by most picturesque shrunk white alleys. The church is the yearly destination of pilgrimages for Christians, in May and October, and especially Gipsies. To this occasion, in May, the town is lightened up and dances in guitar rhythms, and the idol of Saint-Sarah is pulled out from the sea, reminding us her coming onto the Camargue land.

As a very typical Camarguese town, the Saintes-Maries have an own arena for “courses camarguaises”, and ponds where magnificent processions of pink flamingos often stay, for instance in front of the Hotel L'Estelle...

In a much different style, you may also find in the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer a funboard spot specifically structured to reach speed records.

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Land of salt and sands, the Camargue is this triangle of wild country between the two main arms of the Rhone : the Petit-Rhone (west) and the Grand-Rhone (east). This homeland of “gardians” (horse and bull breeders), and of their proud beasts, the delta is under official protection since 1970, due to the diversity of its flora, and an exceptional variety of birds. The Camargue mainly consists in flat planes, marshes and ponds, on the lands of the towns of Arles and the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the two widest ones in France.

Protected for a long time from big human communities by the toughness of its lands, it is nowadays under control thanks to a whole net of canals and dikes, and it is exploited for salt, in Salin-de-Giraud, and for rice of Camargue, origin-controlled designation (AOC) which legitimately makes farmers very proud.

Obviously open onto the sea, that covered a large part of its lands up to the Middle Age, the Camargue presents a shore of quality for sea tourism, as well in Beauduc, where you may find long sand beaches and open-air entertainment, as in the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (thalassotherary). To the West, in the “Petite-Camargue”, Port-Camargue and Le Grau-du-Roi, as the alliance of the Sun of South and the most charming salt-water ponds.

Famous spot of art and history, gate of the Camargue where the Rhone splits up, the city of Arles kept the vestiges of its ancient times as a major town in the Provence. Still nowadays around the Place du Forum, close to the place where the Roman forum stood, you can see the typical columns caught in the walls of the houses, and right in the middle of the map, in the old district, the well-known arena of Arles.

Set into the Cevennes moutain, West, and the colorful lands of the Provence, East, the Mediterranean city is, now as ever, most attractive to artists who stay there looking for light and landscapes. Anyone would think about Vincent Van Gogh, who found in Arles an ideal second home. Besides painting, Arles is dedicated to photography as much as Avignon to theater, with an annual program of exhibitions, the “Rencontres d'Arles”, each time enjoyed by amateurs as well as by lucky on-lookers on holiday. Arles, colorful city of flair, has everything it needs to please the vacationer, whether (s)he stays in a hotel for just a short time or for a longer trip for instance in a guests' home, close to the Camargue, not far from Marseille and the sea.

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Pictures exhibition " Les rencontres d'Arles"