Hotel D'Agar: Magic or enigmatic?

Gothic tower, Francis I and a treasure of silver coins in Cavaillon

Built on the ruins of the Greek and Roman town of Cavaillon, the Hotel d'Agar, which belonged to the eponymous family, is a mansion whose first elements date back to the 12th century. Over the centuries, the hotel has undergone many transformations and its archaeological and artistic treasures are now unveiled. Historians, enter the history of Provence!

27 years of diligent research and rescue of works destined to oblivion or destruction. The visible artistic elements form an improbable accumulation of all periods with some highlights: caravan paintings, one of the oldest pharmacy furniture in France or a textile ensemble ranging from Neolithic to today... Collectors, get ready!

When one of the oldest gardens in France is discovered

It is certainly not huge but so peaceful and full of sensations! This garden is populated with illustrious remains because excavations have made it possible to determine that it already existed 2000 years ago! It was the garden of the bishops of Cavaillon until the Revolution, Louis XVI walked there and archaeological excavations revealed a treasure of more than 300 deniers of silver: it is the most important treasure in the Roman world. Stroll through an atmosphere of an ancient garden, amid amazing remains: monumental elements of the Pont Neuf in Paris, the XV rosette of the Cathedral of Carcassonne and a large aviary...

When the Plague killed Provence...

Athens, Rome, Venice, London, Paris... For millennia, the Plague was feared by all and destroyed the people. She traumatized the West one last time, because of a terrible human adventure: the 1720 Plague of Marseilles, the last great epidemic of Western Plague!

On the occasion of the 300 years of the Peste Marseille, the Hotel d'Agar organizes a large exhibition until 20 September 2020. This hotel has the largest private hand background in the world on the Plague of 1720.

At the beginning of the 18th century, globalization as we know it took shape: economies and exchanges were accelerating all over the globe, cities were expanding and cultures were meeting. One of the European symbols of this new world is Marseille. A legendary port facing the Mediterranean and the world! Africa, the Middle East, the countries of the Levant and Northern Europe are meeting here. A modern, flourishing and peaceful city that in a few months will have become a “dead city”.

Through a background of more than a thousand manuscripts (the majority unpublished), letters, testimonies, paintings, drawings, exvotos, textiles, prints... the Hotel d'Agar organizes an exhibition on this terrible disease that has changed mentalities. The quarantined populations, the erection of border walls, the passes imposed to leave home, the tensions and fears (more contagious than the Plague) but also the heroic acts and miraculous mutual aid between the populations on a European scale.

So many elements that forge a surprising parallel with our hot news. The exhibition opened on June 20, date of the first official death of the Plague in Marseille.

Visits are by reservation until 20/09/2020:
Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Guided tours only at 10 am, 2 pm and 4 pm during temporary exhibitions.
Open all year round for groups by reservation.
http://hotel-dagar.com/