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116-498: The cathedral is located on the route of the Roman road , the Via Aurelia . A fragment of a Roman wall and the columns of the baptistery seem to be the origin of the legend that the church was built on top of a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo . The historian Scholastique Pitton (1668) claimed that the temple had been dedicated to a sun god, basing his claim upon the discovery of the leg of

232-416: A transit , a surveyor tried to achieve straightness by looking along the rods and commanding the gromatici to move them as required. Using the gromae they then laid out a grid on the plan of the road. If the surveyor could not see his desired endpoint, a signal fire would often be lit at the endpoint in order to guide the surveyor. The libratores then began their work using ploughs and, sometimes with

348-859: A Roman official to be sent, on service either civil or military, where we do not find roads. They reach the Wall in Britain ; run along the Rhine , the Danube , and the Euphrates ; and cover, as with a network, the interior provinces of the Empire. A road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared viae . Beyond its borders there were no paved roads; however, it can be supposed that footpaths and dirt roads allowed some transport. There were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as

464-669: A cock with the tail of a snake, representing the battle between good and evil. The baptistery was built at the beginning of the 6th century, at about the same time as similar baptisteries in Fréjus Cathedral and Riez Cathedral in Provence, in Albenga in Liguria , and in Djémila , Algeria . Only the octagonal baptismal pool and the lower part of the walls remain from that period. The other walls and

580-407: A directional straightness. Many long sections are ruler-straight, but it should not be thought that all of them were. Some links in the network were as long as 55 miles (89 km). Gradients of 10%–12% are known in ordinary terrain, 15%–20% in mountainous country. The Roman emphasis on constructing straight roads often resulted in steep slopes relatively impractical for most commercial traffic; over

696-463: A great public service like that of the roads. Gaius Gracchus , when Tribune of the People (123–122 BC), paved or gravelled many of the public roads and provided them with milestones and mounting-blocks for riders. Gaius Scribonius Curio , when Tribune (50 BC), sought popularity by introducing a Lex Viaria , under which he was to be chief inspector or commissioner for five years. Dio Cassius mentions that

812-517: A layer of fine concrete, the nucleus, went onto the pavement or statumen . Into or onto the nucleus went a course of polygonal or square paving stones, called the summa crusta . The crusta was crowned for drainage. An example is found in an early basalt road by the Temple of Saturn on the Clivus Capitolinus . It had travertine paving, polygonal basalt blocks, concrete bedding (substituted for

928-508: A new Gothic front and a bell tower. The façade features four statues by Jean Mone, made in 1512–1513, on the middle level: Saint Mitre (carrying his head); Saint Mary Magdalene , (carrying a flask of perfume); the boy-bishop Saint Louis of Toulouse (d. 1297), the brother of Robert of Naples , Count of Provence 1309–1343; and the other Saint Louis , King Louis IX of France (d. 1270), his great-uncle. Jacotin Paproche, from Picardy , sculpted

1044-513: A regulation width (see Laws and traditions above), but actual widths have been measured at between 3.6 feet (1.1 metres) and more than 23 feet (7.0 metres). Today, the concrete has worn from the spaces around the stones, giving the impression of a very bumpy road, but the original practice was to produce a surface that was no doubt much closer to being flat. Many roads were built to resist rain, freezing and flooding. They were constructed to need as little repair as possible. Roman construction took

1160-426: A road, though privately constructed, became a public road when the memory of its private constructors had perished. Siculus Flaccus describes viae vicinales as roads " de publicis quae divertunt in agros et saepe ad alteras publicas perveniunt " (which turn off the public roads into fields, and often reach to other public roads). The repairing authorities, in this case, were the magistri pagorum or magistrates of

1276-509: A statue uncovered at the site. According to the Christian tradition, the first church on the site was founded by Saint Maximinus of Aix , who arrived in Provence from Bethany , a village near Jerusalem , with Mary Magdalene on a boat belonging to Lazarus . Maximin built a modest chapel on the site of the present cathedral and dedicated it to the Holy Saviour ( le Saint Sauveur ). During

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1392-707: Is a city on the French Riviera , famous for its 1793 siege , and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is the prefecture of the Var department. The Commune of Toulon has a population of 176,198 people (2018), making it France's 13th-largest city. It is the centre of an urban unit with 580,281 inhabitants (2018),

1508-480: Is also connecting the city to Nice, Marseille and Paris. The port of Toulon is the main port of departures for ferries to Corsica . The nearest airport is the regional Toulon-Hyères Airport . The proximity of Marseille-Provence Airport located at 80 kms of the city, serving international destinations in Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America and Asia and linked to the city-center by direct trains daily offers

1624-553: Is also home to a number of institutes of the University of Toulon , known until 2013 as University of the South, Toulon-Var. Toulon has a campus of KEDGE Business School . Toulon figures prominently in Victor Hugo 's Les Misérables . It is the location of the infamous prison, the bagne of Toulon , in which the protagonist Jean Valjean spends nineteen years in hard labour. Toulon is also

1740-503: Is due to the wall of mountains that largely protects Toulon from the weather coming from the north. With a yearly average temperature of 16.7 °C (62 °F), it is also one of the warmest cities in metropolitan France. One distinctive feature of the Toulon climate is the wind, with 115 days a year of strong winds; usually either the cold and dry Mistral or the Tramontane from the north,

1856-405: Is in a house on the waterfront near Fort St. Louis. Mount Faron (584 metres (1,916 feet)) dominates the city of Toulon. The top can be reached by cable car from Toulon or by a narrow road that ascends from the west side and descends on the east side. The road is one of the stages of the annual Paris–Nice and Tour Méditerranéen bicycle races. At the top of Mount Faron is a memorial dedicated to

1972-553: Is rare but sometimes torrential; and by hot summers and mild winters. Because of its proximity to the sea, the temperature is relatively moderate. The average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 9.9 °C (50 °F), the warmest of any city in metropolitan France. In January, the maximum average temperature is 13.2 °C (56 °F). and the average minimum temperature is 6.6 °C (44 °F). The average temperature in July,

2088-552: Is the Porte d'Italie, one of the old city gates. Napoleon Bonaparte departed on his triumphant Italian campaign from this gate in 1796. Toulon has a number of museums. The Museum of the French Navy (Musée national de la marine) is located on Place Monsenergue, next on the west side of the old port, a short distance from the Hôtel de Ville. The museum was founded in 1814, during the reign of

2204-510: Is there. The area is also home of the celebrated Provençal market , which takes place every morning on the Cours Lafayette and features local products. The old town decayed in the 1980s and 1990s, but recently many of the fountains and squares have been restored and many new shops have opened. The Old Town of Toulon is known for its fountains, found in many of the small squares, each with a different character. The original system of fountains

2320-604: Is venerated in this chapel. The nobleman Urbain Aygosi shows here the highest love. In the year of Our Lord 1470, the chapel is finished, by the grace of God, on January 28.") This monument comprises: Aix Cathedral plays a significant role in Émile Zola's novel, La Conquete de Plassans (1874), where it is referred to as Saint-Saturnin. Roman road Roman roads ( Latin : viae Romanae [ˈwiae̯ roːˈmaːnae̯] ; singular: via Romana [ˈwia roːˈmaːna] ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to

2436-717: The Allied landings in North Africa ( Operation Torch ) the German Army occupied southern France ( Case Anton ), leading French naval officers to scuttle the French Fleet based at Toulon on 27 November 1942. The city was bombed by the Allies in November of the following year, with much of the port destroyed and five hundred residents killed. The Hôtel de Ville , centre of the administration of

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2552-478: The Etruscans . The Viae terrenae were plain roads of leveled earth. These were mere tracks worn down by the feet of humans and animals, and possibly by wheeled carriages. The Viae glareatae were earthen roads with a gravel surface or a gravel subsurface and paving on top. Livy speaks of the censors of his time as being the first to contract for paving the streets of Rome with flint stones, for laying gravel on

2668-582: The Franciscans first, then the Dominicans , Carmelites , and Augustinians , building new churches, monasteries and convents. A surge of construction on the cathedral paralleled the growth of importance of Aix. Two new wings of the transept , built in the Gothic style, were begun in about 1285–1290, and finished in 1316. Bay by bay, the old Romanesque church was transformed into a Gothic cathedral. The building of

2784-518: The Second Triumvirate obliged the Senators to repair the public roads at their own expense. The second category included private or country roads, originally constructed by private individuals, in whom their soil was vested and who had the power to dedicate them to the public use. Such roads benefited from a right of way in favor either of the public or of the owner of a particular estate. Under

2900-527: The Siege of Toulon from Lewrie's perspective, as he commands a commandeered French barge carrying sea mortars against Lieutenant-Colonel Bonaparte's forces. Toulon is served by the Gare de Toulon railway station, offering suburban services to Marseille (1 train every 15 minutes during peak hours), regional services to Nice, and high speed connections to Paris, Strasburg, Luxemburg and Brussels. A daily night intercity train

3016-666: The Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC. In the Itinerary of Antoninus , the description of the road system is as follows: With the exception of some outlying portions, such as Britain north of the Wall, Dacia , and certain provinces east of the Euphrates, the whole Empire was penetrated by these itinera (plural of iter ). There is hardly a district to which we might expect

3132-522: The black plague , coming from Marseille. Thirteen thousand people, or half the population, died. In 1790, following the French Revolution , Toulon became the administrative centre of the département of the Var . However, in 1793, the Jacobin administration of the city was swept from power, allowing Girondins and royalists to take their place; the city then rose up against the central administration of

3248-415: The cantons . They could require the neighboring landowners either to furnish laborers for the general repair of the viae vicinales , or to keep in repair, at their own expense, a certain length of road passing through their respective properties. With the conquest of Italy, prepared viae were extended from Rome and its vicinity to outlying municipalities, sometimes overlying earlier roads. Building viae

3364-424: The censor who had ordered their construction or reconstruction. The same person often served afterwards as consul, but the road name is dated to his term as censor. If the road was older than the office of censor or was of unknown origin, it was named for its destination or the region through which it mainly passed. A road was renamed if the censor ordered major work on it, such as paving, repaving, or rerouting. With

3480-459: The civil engineer looked over the site of the proposed road and determined roughly where it should go, the agrimensores went to work surveying the road bed. They used two main devices, the rod and a device called a groma , which helped them obtain right angles. The gromatici , the Roman equivalent of rod men, placed rods and put down a line called the rigor . As they did not possess anything like

3596-511: The tympanum , which were destroyed during the French Revolution . The doors of the cathedral were commissioned by the chapter in 1505, and were carved of walnut by the brothers Raymond and Jean Bolhit of Aix and by the Toulon sculptor Jean Guiramand. The doors feature four figures in high relief of the major prophets of the Old Testament ( Isaiah , Ezekiel , Daniel and Jeremiah ). Above

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3712-822: The 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It owns works by landscape artists of Provence from the late 19th century ( Paul Guigou , Auguste Aiguier , Vincent Courdouan , Félix Ziem ), and the Fauves of Provence ( Charles Camoin , Auguste Chabaud , Louis Mathieu Verdilhan ). The contemporary collections contain works from 1960 to today representing the New Realism Movement (Arman, César, Christo , Klein, Raysse); Minimalist Art ( Sol LeWitt , Donald Judd ); Support Surface (Cane, Viallat côtoient Arnal, Buren, Chacallis) and an important collection of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson , Dieuzaide , Edouard Boubat , Willy Ronis and André Kertész ). The Memorial Museum to

3828-402: The 1944 Allied landings in Provence ( Operation Dragoon ), and to the liberation of Toulon. Beginning in 1678, Vauban constructed an elaborate system of fortifications around Toulon. Some parts, such as the section that once ran along the present-day Boulevard de Strasbourg, were removed in the mid-19th century so the city could be enlarged, but other parts remain. One part that can be visited

3944-630: The Emperor Napoleon. It is located today behind what was formerly the monumental gate to the Arsenal of Toulon, built in 1738. The museum building, along with the clock tower next to it, is one of the few buildings of the port and arsenal which survived Allied bombardments during World War II. It contains displays tracing the history of Toulon as a port of the French Navy . Highlights include large 18th-century ship models used to teach seamanship and models of

4060-569: The First Republic and joined the Federalist revolts . The new Federalist administration surrendered the city and its fleet to the British. French Republican forces then undertook the siege of Toulon , forcing the British to withdraw, taking a number of ships with them and destroying the rest of them. Napoleon Bonaparte served as an artillery captain during the event. To punish Toulon for its rebellion,

4176-634: The French Ambassador to Turkey to buy it, and brought it to Toulon on his ship, the Estafette . From Toulon it was taken to the Louvre . In August 1935, a year before the reign of the Popular Front , violent uprisings of the workers of the Toulon shipyards opposed the policy of austerity . This resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries; a state of emergency was imposed. During World War II, after

4292-568: The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and her battle group. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon. Archaeological excavations, such as those at the Cosquer Cave near Marseille , show that the coast of Provence was inhabited since at least the Paleolithic era. Greek colonists came from Phocaea , Asia Minor , in about the 7th century BC and established trading depots along

4408-589: The Holy Roman Empire, and Toulon surrendered. In 1543, Francis I found a surprising new ally in his battle against the Holy Roman Empire. He invited the fleet of Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa to Toulon as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance . The residents were forced to leave, and the Ottoman sailors occupied the town for the winter. See Ottoman occupation of Toulon . In 1646, a fleet was gathered in Toulon for

4524-680: The Landings in Provence (Mémorial du débarquement de Provence) is located on the summit of Mount Faron, this small museum, opened in 1964 by President Charles De Gaulle , commemorates the Allied landing in Provence in August 1944 with photos, weapons and models. The Museum of Natural History of Toulon and the Var (Musée d'histoire naturelle de Toulon et du Var) was founded in 1888, has a large collection of displays about dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and minerals, mostly from

4640-769: The Place de la Liberté, the Grand Hôtel, the Gardens of Alexander I, the Chalucet Hospital, the Palais de Justice, the train station, and the building now occupied by Galeries Lafayette , among others. Haussmann went on to use the same style on a much grander scale in the rebuilding of central Paris. Toulon harbour is one of the best natural anchorages on the Mediterranean and one of the largest harbours in Europe. A naval arsenal and shipyard

4756-565: The Ridgeway and the Icknield Way . The Laws of the Twelve Tables , dated to about 450 BC, required that any public road (Latin via ) be 8 Roman feet (perhaps about 2.37 m) wide where straight and twice that width where curved. These were probably the minimum widths for a via ; in the later republic, widths of around 12 Roman feet were common for public roads in rural regions, permitting

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4872-454: The aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle . The Museum of Old Toulon and its Region (Musée du vieux Toulon et de sa région). The Museum was founded in 1912, and contains a collection of maps, paintings, drawings, models and other artifacts showing the history of the city. The Museum of Asian Arts (Musée des arts asiatiques), in Mourillon. Located in a house with garden which once belonged to

4988-410: The basilica of Saint-Maximin. For the sake of symmetry, an identical but false organ chest was built on the opposite side, where the small organ had been. A new organ was reconstructed inside the original chest in 1855, and reconditioned in 1867 and 1983. Painted and sculpted neo-Gothic decoration was added to the nave between 1857 and 1862. The work was done by Revoil, the architect of the diocese, who

5104-520: The birthplace of the novel's antagonist, Javert . One portion of the wall of the old bagne, or prison, where Jean Valjean was supposedly held still stands to the right of the entrance of the Old Harbour. In Anthony Powell 's novel What's Become of Waring the central characters spend a long summer holiday in Toulon's old town. Powell himself stayed at the Hotel du Port et des Negociants on two occasions in

5220-454: The causeway to more than 5 feet (1.5 metres) above the marsh. In the provinces, the Romans often did not bother with a stone causeway but used log roads ( pontes longi ). The public road system of the Romans was thoroughly military in its aims and spirit. It was designed to unite and consolidate the conquests of the Roman people, whether within or without the limits of Italy proper. A legion on

5336-432: The censorial responsibility passed to the commanders of the Roman armies and later to special commissioners, and in some cases perhaps to the local magistrates. In the provinces, the consul or praetor and his legates received authority to deal directly with the contractor. The care of the streets and roads within the Roman territory was committed in the earliest times to the censors. They eventually made contracts for paving

5452-725: The charges for using the roads. Costs of services on the journey went up from there. Financing road building was a Roman government responsibility. Maintenance, however, was generally left to the province. The officials tasked with fund-raising were the curatores viarum . They had a number of methods available to them. Private citizens with an interest in the road could be asked to contribute to its repair. High officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads. Censors, who were in charge of public morals and public works, were expected to fund repairs suâ pecuniâ (with their own money). Beyond those means, taxes were required. A via connected two cities. Viae were generally centrally placed in

5568-559: The church of the Carmelites in Aix, was placed in the cathedral in 1823. On the left side is the inscription: "Anne, la glorieuse mère de la Vierge Marie, est vénérée dans la présente chapelle. Noble homme Urbain Aygosi a exposé içi le comble de l'amour. En la présente année du Seigneur 1470, la chapelle est achevée par la grâce de Dieu, le 28 janvier." ("Anne, the glorious mother of the Virgin Mary,

5684-423: The city proper) who were both part of the collegia known as the vigintisexviri (literally meaning "Twenty-Six Men"). Augustus, finding the collegia ineffective, especially the boards dealing with road maintenance, reduced the number of magistrates from 26 to 20. Augustus abolished the duoviri and later granted the position as superintendent (according to Dio Cassius) of the road system connecting Rome to

5800-412: The city wall and the first milestone beyond. In case of an emergency in the condition of a particular road, men of influence and liberality were appointed, or voluntarily acted, as curatores or temporary commissioners to superintend the work of repair. The dignity attached to such a curatorship is attested by a passage of Cicero . Among those who performed this duty in connection with particular roads

5916-504: The city, was completed in 1970. In 1979, the University of Toulon opened. Toulon was one of four French cities where the extreme-right Front National won the local elections in 1995. The Front National was voted out of power in 2001. The old town of Toulon, the historic centre between the port, the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the Cours Lafayette, is a pedestrian area with narrow streets, small squares and many fountains. Toulon Cathedral

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6032-423: The coast, including one, called Olbia, at Saint-Pierre de l'Almanarre south of Hyères , to the east of Toulon. The Ligurians settled in the area beginning in the 4th century BC. In the 2nd century BC, the residents of Massalia (present-day Marseille) called upon the Romans to help them pacify the region. The Romans defeated the Ligurians and began to start their own colonies along the coast. A Roman settlement

6148-401: The columns on the west and north are decorated with scenes from the New Testament and Old Testament, and with a statue of St. Peter . A marble slab in the west gallery, whose inscription has worn away, may be the tomb of Basilius, bishop of Aix in 500, and the builder of the first cathedral. A small organ was placed sideways on a tribune in the canonical choir above the stalls in about 1513. It

6264-437: The condition of the public highways. Their names occur frequently in the inscriptions to restorers of roads and bridges. Thus, Vespasian , Titus , Domitian , Trajan , and Septimius Severus were commemorated in this capacity at Emérita. The Itinerary of Antoninus (which was probably a work of much earlier date and republished in an improved and enlarged form under one of the Antonine emperors ) remains as standing evidence of

6380-427: The construction of sewers and removed obstructions to traffic, as the aediles did in Rome. It was in the character of an imperial curator (though probably armed with extraordinary powers) that Corbulo denounced the magistratus and mancipes of the Italian roads to Tiberius . He pursued them and their families with fines and imprisonment and was later rewarded with a consulship by Caligula , who also shared

6496-421: The countryside. The construction and care of the public roads, whether in Rome, in Italy, or in the provinces, was, at all periods of Roman history, considered to be a function of the greatest weight and importance. This is clearly shown by the fact that the censors, in some respects the most venerable of Roman magistrates, had the earliest paramount authority to construct and repair all roads and streets. Indeed all

6612-409: The dome were rebuilt in the Renaissance. A viewing hole in the floor reveals the bases of the porticoes of the Roman forum under the baptistery. The cloister was used by the canons , the priests who served the bishop and administered the church's property. It was built at the end of the 12th century, at a time when canons were urged to live a more austere and more monastic communal life. The cloister

6728-547: The early 1930s and writes in the second volume of his memoirs The naval port, with its small inner harbour, row of cafés along the rade, was quite separate from the business quarter of the town. A paddle steamer plied several times a day between this roadstead and the agreeably unsophisticated plage of Les Sablettes . Joseph Conrad 's last novel, The Rover , is also set around Toulon. The last half of Dewey Lambdin 's historical fiction novel, H.M.S. Cockerel , (the sixth novel in his Alan Lewrie naval adventure series) details

6844-415: The first paved road—the Appian Way . Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the roads referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks. Thus, the Via Gabiana (during the time of Porsena ) is mentioned in about 500 BC; the Via Latina (during the time of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus ) in about 490 BC; the Via Nomentana (also known as "Via Ficulensis"), in 449 BC;

6960-411: The gravel), and a rain-water gutter. Romans preferred to engineer solutions to obstacles rather than circumvent them. Outcrops of stone, ravines, or hilly or mountainous terrain called for cuts and tunnels. An example of this is found on the Roman road from Căzănești near the Iron Gates . This road was half carved into the rock, about 5   ft to 5   ft 9   in (1.5 to 1.75   m);

7076-416: The habit of condemning well-born citizens to work on the roads. Under the rule of Claudius, Corbulo was brought to justice and forced to repay the money which had been extorted from his victims. Special curatores for a term seem to have been appointed on occasion, even after the institution of the permanent magistrates bearing that title. The emperors who succeeded Augustus exercised a vigilant control over

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7192-413: The harbour. It was once a fishing village, and then became the home of many of the officers of the French fleet. Mourillon has a small fishing port, next to a 16th-century fort, Fort Saint Louis, which was reconstructed by Vauban. In the 1970s, the city of Toulon built a series of sheltered sandy beaches in Mourillon, which today are very popular with the Toulonais and naval families. The Museum of Asian Art

7308-483: The heading of viae privatae were also included roads leading from the public or high roads to particular estates or settlements; Ulpian considers these to be public roads. Features off the via were connected to the via by viae rusticae , or secondary roads. Both main or secondary roads might either be paved or left unpaved with a gravel surface, as they were in North Africa. These prepared but unpaved roads were viae glareae or sternendae ("to be strewn"). Beyond

7424-402: The help of legionaries , with spades excavated the road bed down to bedrock or at least to the firmest ground they could find. The excavation was called the fossa , the Latin word for ditch. The depth varied according to terrain. The method varied according to geographic locality, materials available, and terrain, but the plan or ideal at which the engineer aimed was always the same. The road

7540-409: The invasion of the Saracens in the 8th and 9th centuries, the original chapel of Saint-Sauveur was destroyed. Around the year 500, under the bishop Basilius, a group of episcopal buildings was constructed on top of the old Roman forum, including a chapel, a baptistery and several other rooms. At the beginning of the 12th century, a new church was begun on the same site, with Romanesque walls bearing

7656-407: The letters addressed to Pope Leo I from the province of Arles . A Saint Cyprian , disciple and biographer of St. Cæsarius of Arles , is also mentioned as a Bishop of Toulon. His episcopate, begun in 524, had not come to an end in 541; he converted to Catholicism two Visigothic chiefs, Mandrier and Flavian, who became anchorites and martyrs on the peninsula of Mandrier. As barbarians invaded

7772-840: The maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire . They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies , officials, civilians, inland carriage of official communications, and trade goods . Roman roads were of several kinds, ranging from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and were flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations. At

7888-430: The major Battle of Orbetello , also known as the Battle of Isola del Giglio, commanded by France's first Grand Admiral, the young Grand Admiral Marquis of Brézé, Jean Armand de Maillé-Bréze of 36 galleons, 20 galleys, and a large complement of minor vessels. This fleet carried aboard an army of 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry and its baggage under Thomas of Savoy, shortly before a general in Spanish service. King Louis XIV

8004-435: The march brought its own baggage train ( impedimenta ) and constructed its own camp ( castra ) every evening at the side of the road. Toulon Toulon ( UK : / ˈ t uː l ɒ̃ / , US : / t uː ˈ l oʊ n , - ˈ l ɔː n , - ˈ l ɒ n / , French: [tulɔ̃] ; Provençal : Tolon (classical norm) , Touloun (Mistralian norm) , pronounced [tuˈlun] )

8120-431: The minute care which was bestowed on the service of the public roads. Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advances that were lost during the Middle Ages . Some of these accomplishments would not be rivaled in Europe until the Modern Age . Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier designs. Some of the common, earlier designs incorporated arches . Roman road builders aimed at

8236-400: The new church was interrupted by the Black Death and then the Hundred Years' War . Work did not resume for 130 years, until 1472, when the last bay was built. The façade took another thirty years, and the last statues were not put in place until 1513, at the beginning of the Renaissance . The original Romanesque front of Saint Mary's nave was destroyed in the 15th century, and replaced with

8352-496: The ninth largest in France by population. Toulon is the second-largest French city by urban area on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille . Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. The military port of Toulon is the major naval centre on France's Mediterranean coast, home of

8468-545: The oak trees. Toulon harbour became a shelter for trading ships, and the name of the town gradually changed from Telo to Tholon, Tolon, and Toulon. Toulon was Christianized in the 5th century, and the first cathedral built. Honoratus and Gratianus of Toulon (Gratien), according to the Gallia Christiana , were the first bishops of Toulon , but Louis Duchesne gives Augustalis as the first historical bishop. He assisted at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450

8584-491: The office of curator of each of the great public roads a perpetual magistracy rather than a temporary commission. The persons appointed under the new system were of senatorial or equestrian rank, depending on the relative importance of the roads assigned to them. It was the duty of each curator to issue contracts for the maintenance of his road and to see that the contractor who undertook said work performed it faithfully, as to both quantity and quality. Augustus also authorized

8700-470: The original 6th century episcopal buildings. The chapel was rebuilt in the 12th century, and when the Gothic nave was added, was incorporated into the cathedral and became the oratory of the Saviour. It was destroyed in 1808. At the end of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th century, Aix became the capital of Provence, and the city's population and importance grew rapidly. Religious orders began to arrive;

8816-436: The passing of two carts of standard (4 foot) width without interference to pedestrian traffic. Actual practices varied from this standard. The Tables command Romans to build public roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Building roads that would not need frequent repair therefore became an ideological objective, as well as building them as straight as practicable to construct

8932-413: The paving of the streets of Rome or at least shared that responsibility with the quattuorviri viarum . It has been suggested that the quaestors were obliged to buy their right to an official career by personal outlay on the streets. There was certainly no lack of precedents for this enforced liberality, and the change made by Claudius may have been a mere change in the nature of the expenditure imposed on

9048-567: The peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles ) of roads, of which over 80,500 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved. In Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi). The courses (and sometimes

9164-455: The prophets are the figures of twelve Sybils , pagan fortune-tellers from antiquity, honoured by medieval Christian scholars for having forecast the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. The figures are framed with garlands of pomegranates and acorns, bunches of grapes, symbols of the Eucharist, a lion, a dragon and other fantastic animals: an aspic (another type of dragon) and a basilisk ,

9280-618: The quaestors. The official bodies which first succeeded the censors in the care of the streets and roads were: Both these bodies were probably of ancient origin. The first mention of either body occurs in the Lex Julia Municipalis in 45 BC. The quattuorviri were afterwards called quattuorviri viarum curandarum . The extent of jurisdiction of the duoviri is derived from their full title as duoviri viis extra propiusve urbem Romam passus mille purgandis . Their authority extended over all roads between their respective gates of issue in

9396-514: The region and Roman power crumbled, the town was frequently attacked by pirates and the Saracens . In 1486, Provence became part of France. Soon afterwards, in 1494, Charles VIII of France , with the intention of making France a sea power on the Mediterranean, and to support his military campaign in Italy, began constructing a military port at the harbor of Toulon. His Italian campaign failed, and in 1497,

9512-422: The region. The Hôtel des arts was opened in 1998, presents five exhibits a year of works by well-known contemporary artists. Featured artists have included Sean Scully , Jannis Kounellis , Claude Viallat , Per Kirkeby , and Vik Muniz . Toulon is subtropical, featuring a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa), characterised by abundant and strong sunshine, dry summers, and rain which

9628-408: The rest of Italy and provinces beyond. In this capacity he had effectively given himself and any following emperors a paramount authority which had originally belonged to the city censors. The quattuorviri board was kept as it was until at least the reign of Hadrian (117 to 138 AD). Furthermore, he appointed praetorians to the offices of "road-maker" and assigning each one with two lictors , making

9744-616: The rest of the road, above the Danube , was made from wooden structure, projecting out of the cliff. The road functioned as a towpath, making the Danube navigable. Tabula Traiana memorial plaque in Serbia is all that remains of the now-submerged road. Roman bridges were some of the first large and lasting bridges created. River crossings were achieved by bridges, or pontes . Single slabs went over rills. A bridge could be of wood, stone, or both. Wooden bridges were constructed on pilings sunk into

9860-407: The river, or on stone piers. Stone arch bridges were used on larger or more permanent crossings. Most bridges also used concrete, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges. Roman bridges were so well constructed that many remain in use today. Causeways were built over marshy ground. The road was first marked out with pilings. Between them were sunk large quantities of stone so as to raise

9976-457: The roads outside the city, and for forming raised footpaths at the sides. In these roads, the surface was hardened with gravel, and although pavements were introduced shortly afterwards, the blocks were laid on a bed of small stones. Examples include the Via Praenestina and Via Latina . The best sources of information as regards the construction of a regulation via munita are: After

10092-533: The rulers of Genoa , who controlled commerce on that part of the Mediterranean, blockaded the new port. In 1524, as part of his longtime battle against Emperor Charles V and the Holy Roman Empire , King François I of France completed a powerful new fort, the Tour Royale, Toulon , at the entrance of the harbour. However, a few months later the commander of the new fort sold it to the commander of an Army of

10208-462: The secondary roads were the viae terrenae , "dirt roads". The third category comprised roads at or in villages, districts , or crossroads , leading through or towards a vicus or village. Such roads ran either into a high road or into other viae vicinales , without any direct communication with a high road. They were considered public or private, according to the fact of their original construction out of public or private funds or materials. Such

10324-445: The shortest possible roads, and thus save on material. Roman law defined the right to use a road as a servitus , or liability. The ius eundi ("right of going") established a claim to use an iter , or footpath, across private land; the ius agendi ("right of driving"), an actus , or carriage track. A via combined both types of servitutes , provided it was of the proper width, which was determined by an arbiter . The default width

10440-461: The son and later the grandson of author Jules Verne , the museum contains a small but interesting collection of art objects, many donated by naval officers from the time of the French colonization of Southeast Asia. It includes objects and paintings from India, China, Southeast Asia, China Tibet and Japan. The Museum of Art (Musée d'art) was created in 1888, and contains collections of modern and contemporary art, as well as paintings of Provence from

10556-430: The street inside Rome, including the Clivus Capitolinus , with lava, and for laying down the roads outside the city with gravel. Sidewalks were also provided. The aediles , probably by virtue of their responsibility for the freedom of traffic and policing the streets, co-operated with the censors and the bodies that succeeded them. It would seem that in the reign of Claudius the quaestors had become responsible for

10672-477: The surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads. "The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains." Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Ant. Rom. 3.67.5 Livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before

10788-467: The ten small prophets and twenty cherubim (1484) on the façade. Pierre Souquet created the two statues on the upper level, representing the first two bishops of Aix, traditionally named as Maximinus and Sidonius. The centrepiece of the façade is Saint Michael Crushing the Dragon (1507), by Jean Paumier, from Burgundy . The façade originally also included twelve statues of the apostles and six statues on

10904-598: The term viae regales compare the roads of the Persian kings (who probably organized the first system of public roads) and the King's Highway . With the term viae militariae compare the Icknield Way ( Icen-hilde-weg , or "War-way of the Iceni"). There were many other people, besides special officials, who from time to time and for a variety of reasons sought to connect their names with

11020-528: The terms via munita and vía publica became identical. Viae were distinguished according to their public or private character, as well as according to the materials employed and the methods followed in their construction. Ulpian divided them up in the following fashion: According to Isidore of Sevilla , the Romans borrowed the knowledge of construction of viae munitae from the Carthaginians , though certainly inheriting some construction techniques from

11136-465: The three bays of a wide single nave, constituting a parish church dedicated to the Virgin Mary ( Notre Dame de la Sède ). A second nave, dedicated to Saint Maximinus, was built in about 1165–1177 as the church of the canons , which was located between the first nave and the baptistery. The choir of this church ended in a flat chevet wall, which connected by a door with the Sainte-Chapelle, part of

11252-569: The town lost its status as department capital and was briefly renamed Port-la-Montagne , after The Mountain faction. During the Napoleonic Wars , from 1803 until 1805 a British fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson blockaded Toulon. In 1820, the statue which became known as the Venus de Milo was discovered on the Greek island of Milo and seen by a French naval officer, Emile Voutier. He persuaded

11368-413: The urban administration, both abolished and created new offices in connection with the maintenance of public works, streets, and aqueducts in and around Rome. The task of maintaining the roads had previously been administered by two groups of minor magistrates, the quattuorviri (a board of four magistrates to oversee the roads inside the city) and the duoviri (a board of two to oversee the roads outside

11484-474: The various functionaries, including emperors, who succeeded the censors in this portion of their duties, may be said to have exercised a devolved censorial jurisdiction. The devolution to the censorial jurisdictions became a practical necessity, resulting from the growth of the Roman dominions and the diverse labors which detained the censors in the capital city. Certain ad hoc official bodies successively acted as constructing and repairing authorities. In Italy,

11600-451: The warmest month, is 24.7 °C (76 °F), with an average maximum of 29.5 °C (85 °F). and an average minimal temperature of 19.9 °C (68 °F). According to data collected by Météo-France , Toulon is the second city (after Marseille ) in metropolitan France with the most sunshine per year: an average of 2,854.1 hours a year from 1991 to 2020, compared with 2,695 hours a year for Nice and 2,472 hours for Perpignan. This

11716-609: The water would flow out from between the stones and fragments of rubble instead of becoming mud in clay soils. According to Ulpian , there were three types of roads: The first type of road included public high or main roads, constructed and maintained at the public expense, and with their soil vested in the state. Such roads led either to the sea, to a town, to a public river (one with a constant flow), or to another public road. Siculus Flaccus , who lived under Trajan (98–117), calls them viae publicae regalesque , and describes their characteristics as follows: Roman roads were named after

11832-601: The wet Marin ; or the Sirocco sometimes bearing reddish sand from Africa; or the wet and stormy Levant from the east. (See Winds of Provence .) The windiest month is January, with an average of 12.5 days of strong winds. The least windy month is September, with 7 days of strong winds. Toulon has a conservatory ( Conservatoire TPM , part of Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Toulon ) which taught music, theater, dance and circus and an art academy called École supérieure d'art et de design Toulon Provence Méditerranée . Toulon

11948-403: The years the Romans realized this and built longer but more manageable alternatives to existing roads. Roman roads generally went straight up and down hills, rather than in a serpentine pattern of switchbacks. As to the standard Imperial terminology that was used, the words were localized for different elements used in construction and varied from region to region. Also, in the course of time,

12064-480: Was Julius Caesar , who became curator (67 BC) of the Via Appia and spent his own money liberally upon it. Certain persons appear also to have acted alone and taken responsibility for certain roads. In the country districts, the magistri pagorum had authority to maintain the viae vicinales . In Rome each householder was legally responsible for the repairs to that portion of the street which passed his own house; it

12180-467: Was a military responsibility and thus came under the jurisdiction of a consul. The process had a military name, viam munire , as though the via were a fortification. Municipalities, however, were responsible for their own roads, which the Romans called viae vicinales . Roads were not free to use; tolls abounded, especially at bridges. Often they were collected at the city gate. Freight costs were made heavier still by import and export taxes. These were only

12296-450: Was built by Brother Pierre Perrini, with a chest by Jean Guiramand, and shutters painted by Jean de Troyes. In 1612 a larger organ by organ-builder Pierre Marchand was placed opposite the small organ. In 1750, this organ was replaced by the present "green and gold organ," built between 1743 and 1746 by Brother Jean-Esprit Isnard , a Dominican from the convent of Tarascon , who built several other notable organs in Provence, including that in

12412-460: Was built in 1599, and a small sheltered harbour, the Veille Darse, was built in 1604–1610 to protect ships from the wind and sea. The shipyard was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Richelieu , who wished to make France a Mediterranean naval power. Further additions were made by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and Vauban . Le Mourillon is a small seaside neighbourhood to the east of Toulon, near the entrance of

12528-464: Was built in the late 17th century; most were rebuilt in the 18th or early 19th century and have recently been restored. The upper town, between the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the railway station, was built in the mid-19th century under Louis Napoleon . The project was begun by Georges-Eugène Haussmann , who was prefect of the Var in 1849. Improvements to the neighbourhood included the Toulon Opera ,

12644-435: Was built upon the old Roman square, dating from the 1st century AD. The galleries were timbered and not vaulted, so the pairs of columns in the arcades that support them are slender and graceful. The four columns at the angles of the cloister are decorated with carvings of the symbols of the four evangelists: an angel for St. Matthew ; a lion for St. Mark ; a bull for St. Luke ; and an eagle for St. John . The capitals of

12760-448: Was constructed by filling the fossa . This was done by layering rock over other stones. Into the fossa was placed large amounts of rubble , gravel and stone, whatever fill was available. Sometimes a layer of sand was put down, if it was locally avbailable. When the layers came to within 1 yd (1 m) or so of the surface, the subsurface was covered with gravel and tamped down, a process called pavire , or pavimentare . The flat surface

12876-574: Was determined to make France a major sea power. In 1660, his Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban to build a new arsenal and to fortify the town. In 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession , Toulon successfully resisted a siege by the Imperial Army led by Duke Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia of Savoy and Prince Eugene . However, in 1720, the city was ravaged by

12992-456: Was founded at the present location of Toulon, with the name Telo Martius – Telo, either for the local god of springs Telo or from the Latin tol , the base of the hill – and Martius , for the god of war. Telo Martius became one of the two principal Roman dye manufacturing centres, producing the purple colour used in imperial robes, made from the local sea snail called murex , and from the acorns of

13108-591: Was in contact with Viollet-le-Duc and his partners on the restoration of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris that was taking place about the same time. Other 19th century decoration included a high altar with two angels of gilded wood, made in the Empire style (1805). The most notable artwork in the cathedral is the Burning Bush Triptych by Nicolas Froment . Others include: This stone altar, originally installed in

13224-504: Was the latitudo legitima of 8 feet. Roman law and tradition forbade the use of vehicles in urban areas, except in certain cases. Married women and government officials on business could ride. The Lex Julia Municipalis restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls. Roman roads varied from simple corduroy roads to paved roads using deep roadbeds of tamped rubble as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, as

13340-422: Was the duty of the aediles to enforce this responsibility. The portion of any street which passed a temple or public building was repaired by the aediles at the public expense. When a street passed between a public building or temple and a private house, the public treasury and the private owner shared the expense equally. The governing structure was changed by Augustus , who in the course of his reconstitution of

13456-400: Was then the pavimentum . It could be used as the road, or additional layers could be constructed. A statumen or "foundation" of flat stones set in cement might support the additional layers. The final steps utilized lime-based mortar , which the Romans had discovered. They seem to have mixed the mortar and the stones in the ditch. First a small layer of coarse concrete , the rudus , then

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