Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

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Coordinates: 43°27′10″N 4°25′43″E / 43.45277778, 4.42861111

Administration
Commune of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Fortified church
Location

Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department	Bouches-du-Rhône
Arrondissement	Arles
Canton	Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Intercommunality	nc
Mayor	Roland Chassain (2002-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	0 m–6 m (avg. 4 m)
Land area^¹	374.61 km²
Population^² (1999)	2,478
- Density	6.6/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	13096/ 13460
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Narrow streets in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

Barques sur la plage des Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer by van Gogh

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (lit. "Saint Marys of the Sea") is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478 (50,000+ during the summer holidays). It has a land area of 374.61 km² (144.64 sq mi), the second-largest area of all communes in Metropolitan France, smaller only than that of neighboring Arles.

1 Religion
2 Miscellaneous
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Religion

The three saints Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe, whose relics are the focus of the devotions of pilgrims are believed to be the women who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb at the resurrection of Jesus. After the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Salome, Mary Jacobe, and Mary Magdalene set sail from Alexandria, Egypt with their uncle Joseph of Aramithia, by French legend OR were cast adrift in a boat that arrived off the coast of what is now France "a sort of fortress named Oppidum-Râ", and the location was known as Notre-Dame-de-Ratis (Râ becoming Ratis, or boat) (Droit, 1961, 19); the name being changed to Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer, and then Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in 1838.

It is a pilgrimage destination for Roma (Gypsies) who gather yearly in the town for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah known by the French to be Mary Magdala's daughter OR may also be known as Sara-la-Kali (Sara the black). Dark-skinned Saint Sara is said to have possibly been the Egyptian servant of the three Marys. The famous flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata first played there.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Vincent van Gogh painted Street in Saintes-Maries here in 1888.
Hermann-Paul died here in 1940, two days shy of the capitulation.
Tori Amos wrote a song "Mary's of the Sea" inspired by Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer- most notably of the three Marys, Mary Magdalene.