Page 95 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

THE RIVIER A AND THE ALPES M ARITIMES  93

sLa Turbie
Road map F3. * 3,200. @ n 2 pl
Detras (04 93 41 21 15). ( Thu.
∑ ville-la-turbie.fr
High above Monte-Carlo is one
of the finest views on the Riviera,
reached by a stretch of the
Grande Corniche that crosses
ravines and tunnels through
mountains. The village of La
Turbie, scented with bougain-
villea, has two medieval gate-
ways. Its oldest houses, dating
from the 11th–13th centuries, View of Trophée d’Auguste from the village of La Turbie
are on the Roman Via Julia.
honour Augustus’s victory in destroyed on the orders of Louis
E Musée du Trophée 13 BC over 44 fractious Ligurian XIV, who feared it would fall into
d’Auguste tribes. The original trophy was enemy hands during the invasion
18 cours Albert 1er. Tel 04 93 41 20 84. 50-m (164-ft) tall and had niches of Provence by Savoy in 1707.
Open Tue–Sun. Closed 1 Jan, with statues of each of Restoration was first begun in
1 May, 1 & 11 Nov, 25 Dec. the campaign’s victors. 1905, and continued in 1923
& 7 8 by appt. = There were stairs by an American, Edward Tuck.
∑ la-turbie.monuments- leading to all parts Today, the triumphal inscription
nationaux.fr of the structure. of Roman victory has been
The most spectacular When the Romans restored to its original position.
feature of La Turbie left, the trophy was A small museum on the site
is the Trophée gradually dismantled. documents the history of the
d’Auguste, a huge In the 4th century, trophy, with fragments of the
Roman monument, St Honorat chipped monument, pieces of sculpture,
built out of white local away at the monu- inscriptions, drawings and a
stone, which marked Monument detail, ment because it had small-scale model.
the division between Trophée d’Auguste become the object of The spectacular panorama
Italy and Gaul. Its pagan worship. Later from the terraces of the trophy
construction was ordered in it served both as a fort and as takes in Cap Ferrat and Eze.
6 BC by the Roman Senate to a stone quarry. It was partly Monaco, at 480 m (1,575 ft)
below, seems breathtakingly
Trophée d’Auguste close, like an urban stage set
This triumphal monument had 6-m (20-ft) statue of seen from a seat in the gods.
a square podium, a circular Emperor Augustus Among visitors impressed
colonnade and a stepped with La Turbie and its trophy,
cone which was surmounted The original was the poet Dante (1265–
by the statue of Augustus. colonnade included 1321), and his comments are
niches for the statues inscribed on a plaque in rue
of Augustus’s Comte-de-Cessole. From the
The inscription records campaign generals. end of this street there is a fine
the names of the view of the monument.
44 tribes subjugated
by Augustus, with
a dedication to the R Eglise St-Michel-Archange
emperor. Open daily. 7
The 18th-century Nice Baroque
church was built with stones
plundered from the trophy.
Inside there is an altar of
multi-coloured marble and a
17th-century onyx and agate
table, which was used for
communion. Its religious
paintings include two
works by the Niçois artist
Jean-Baptiste Van Loo,
a portrait of St Mark
attributed to Veronese, and
a Piéta from the Bréa School.