Quartier Mazarin

Esprit Devoux: Map of Aix-en-Provence in 1753, showing the extension of the city ramparts to the south, the tree-lined cours Mirabeau and the quartier Mazarin, newly constructed in the second half of the seventeenth century (please click for detail)

The quartier Mazarin is a district in the centre of Aix-en-Provence, directly to the south of the cours Mirabeau, the principal boulevard in Aix. On the initiative of Archbishop Michel Mazarin, brother of the Cardinal Jules Mazarin and Archbishop of Aix from 1645-8 and later himself a cardinal, city plans were devised in 1646 by Jean Lombard, director of public works, to extend the city ramparts to the south, incorporating land owned by the Archbishopric of Aix and by the Order of Saint-Jean-de-Malte. Following a grid plan of streets, the quartier contains a large number of hôtels particuliers originally built for the nobility and wealthy merchant class.

Notable monuments, buildings and residents

The descriptions below are taken from Bouyala d'Arnaud (1964) and Castaldo (2011).

Cours Mirabeau (south side)

Main article: Cours Mirabeau

Rue Mazarine

Rue Goyrand

Rue Fernand-Dol

Place Saint-Jean-de-Malte

Rue Cardinale

Émile Zola was a boarder at the Lycée Mignet (then the Collège Bourbon) from 1852 until 1858. There as an adolescent he formed a close friendship with Baptistin Baille and Paul Cézanne. Following the death of his father François Zola in 1847 and the subsequent collapse of his canal company in 1853, reduced means forced his mother to seek more modest accommodation in Aix. They lodged twice in the quartier Mazarin: briefly in 1853-1854 at 8 rue Roux-Alphéran (at the time rue Longue-Saint-Jean); and in 1857-1859 at 2 rue Mazarine, where Zola spent the summers of 1858 and 1859 in the small set of attic rooms.[1][2]

Rue Roux-Alphéran

Rue Joseph-Cabassol

Rue du Quatre-Septembre

Place des Quatre-Dauphins

Rue Frédéric-Mistral

Rue d'Italie

Notes

References

External links

Coordinates: 43°31′31″N 5°27′00″E / 43.52528°N 5.45000°E