An elegant 18th century hôtel particulier in Aix’s historic and aristrocratic Mazarin Quarter, the Hôtel de Caumont has been converted into a sumptuous new gallery space under the banner of the Caumont Centre d’Art.

 

Located close to Cours Mirabeau, visitors will discover two annual exhibitions dedicated to great masters of the past as well as to contemporary artists. A film on Cézanne’s life in Aix screened daily, as well as concerts and lectures will complement the programming of the Hôtel de Caumont that aims at becoming a major cultural centre in Aix: a place where we discover and share art with passion.

 

But the Caumont Centre d’Art is really much more than an art gallery. The house itself has been stunningly restored: it’s one of very few 18th century hôtels particuliers in town which is open to the public.

And, unusually for a private residence right in the heart of Aix, it has large and lovely formal French gardens on two levels.

There’s an auditorium and several tea rooms decorated in rococo style, which turn in the evenings into a bar, open even after the period rooms and galleries are closed.

 

 

These can also be visited separately from the house and gallery rooms, under certain conditions. The plan is to turn the Caumont Centre d’Art into a buzzing social hub. And, just a year after it opened,  it has already enhanced Aix’s cultural scene.

The first stone was laid on this site exactly three centuries ago, in 1715, and it was to become one of the largest and most lavish of Aix’s bourgeois houses. Hôtel de Caumont was originally conceived by Robert de Cotte, the chief architect for King Louis XIV, the Sun King.

The tea room and gardens offer a haven of peace in the heart of the Mazarin district.