France
Montagne Sainte-Victoire et sites cezaniens
The Montagne Sainte-Victoire is a limestone mountain ridge near the city of Aix-en-Provence with the highest peak at about 1000 metres.
The mountain became famous through the painter Paul Cézanne, who could see it from his nearby house and used the motif for numerous paintings. The proposed property also includes Cezanne's home and studio in Aix-en-Provence, as well as Jas de Bouffan castle and park and the Bibemus quarries, two sites that inspired numerous works by Cezanne.
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- Full Name
- Montagne Sainte-Victoire et sites cezaniens (ID: 242)
- Country
- France
- Status
-
On tentative list 1996
Site history
History of Montagne Sainte-Victoire et sites cezaniens
- 1996: Added to Tentative List
- Added to tentative list
- Criteria
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- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
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UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org
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Montagne Sainte-Victoire et sites cezaniens
Montagne Sainte-Victoire et sites cezaniens (On tentative list)

From this serial nomination, I visited the atelier of Paul Cezanne not far from the historical center of Aix-en-Provence, and also climbed the Montagne Sainte-Victoire (photo), in July 2011. The mountain is really impresive, and no wonder that it was a favourite subject of Cezanne. It is formed by a massive limestone rock covered by typical mediterraen vegetation with the iron cross on the top. The atelier of Cezanne was quite a touristy place, and you can visit it in the former house of Cezanne surrounded by rather neglected garden (in 2011).
Though I enjoyed my trip to the summit of Montagne Sainte-Victoire and love works of Cezanne, I cannot see any OUV here. The nomination text is a bit confusing to me with quite a broad target spanning from dinosaur eggs to Cezanne, and the main reason for inscription is to protect the sites against the tourist industry. I guess it has no chance to enter the list.
However, I would strongly recommend visiting historic center of Aix that is stuffed by very nice monuments such as cathedral. Aix is not far from Marseille and it is worth-visiting even in the case you do not like both modern art and climbing limestone cliffs.
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