Museum Overview
Located at the exit of Tarascon on the road to Fontvieille, on the ancient site of Ernaginum placed at the crossroads of the Aggripian and Domitian routes, the 12th century Saint-Gabriel chapel bears witness to the prestigious past of the place.
How beautiful our chapel is when the inimitable color of the stone stands out with the luminosity of its natural environment of our Alpilles massif!
Surrounded by olive trees, this church of which Prosper Mérimée speaks in his work "Notes of a trip to the South of France" from 1835 is a masterpiece of southern Romanesque art.
The chapel indeed offers visitors a rich sculpted exterior decor. The facade of the Saint-Gabriel chapel is inspired by Roman decorations from the Late Empire. It is dated 1180 by comparison of its oculus with the arch of the western portal of the cathedral of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux.
In the upper part, an original archivolt surrounds an oculus decorated with leaves and masks, and flanked by the symbols of the four evangelists: John (the eagle), Matthew (the man), Luke (the bull) and Mark (the lion). ), whose arrangement (with the symbol of John placed at the top) is a Carolingian reminiscence.
The lower part is a tribute to Saint Gabriel. A large arch shelters the door framed by two columns topped by a triangular pediment on which the Paschal lamb rests.
The triangular pediment rests on two columns whose Corinthian capitals, decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves, can still be admired today.
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Free.