Postcard Orange, Roman Theatre scaenae frons, Provence, Ed. Idéale Avignon

French postcard from the nineteen-twenties or thirties showing a black-and-white phototype of the Théâtre Romain in Orange, Provence. The image shows the monumental rear wall of the scaenae frons, the stage wall that forms the architectural boundary of the Roman theatre and is photographed here from the outside. On the right within the picture plane is printed an extensive French-language notice describing the history of the monument: construction under Julius Caesar by descendants of Roman colonists, length of one hundred and three metres and height of thirty-six metres, transformation into a fortress during the barbarian invasions, restoration under Charles X by the architect Auguste Caristie from 1835 onward, and annual summer performances by artists of the Comédie Française and the Opéra with the cooperation of the Orchestre Colonne. The famous saying of Louis XIV is also cited: "C'est la plus belle muraille de mon royaume". At the top left the indication "1 bis ORANGE - Le Théâtre Romain". Published by the Editions Artistiques "Idéale", with photograph by F. Beau in Avignon-Monclar. The verso is unwritten and unposted, with a divided back. The card is in good condition.

The Roman Theatre of Orange was built in the first century BC under the emperor Augustus and is among the best preserved Roman theatres in the world, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1981. The scaenae frons of one hundred and three metres long and thirty-six metres high is the only surviving intact example of this architectural form in Western Europe; comparable theatres in Italy and elsewhere have lost their stage wall. After the fall of the Roman Empire the theatre was used as a defensive work and later occupied by parasitic housing that was only cleared in the nineteenth century during the restoration campaign led by the architect Auguste Caristie. From 1869 performances were held there again, and since 1902 the Chorégies d'Orange, the annual summer festival of opera and classical music, constitute its regular programming. The publisher Editions Artistiques "Idéale" in Avignon-Monclar was among the regional Provençal postcard houses of the interwar period, with a catalogue concentrated on the Roman and medieval heritages of the Vaucluse and surrounding departments.