2,000 years of history

Orange was a Roman colony called Arausio, founded in 40 B.C. by veterans of Caesar’s Second Gallic regiment. It developed rapidly during the reign of Emperor Augustus and it was at this time, the 1st century A.D., that the theatre was built. 

Theatre's fate

Although highly prized by the Romans, this theatre suffered the same fate as the Roman Empire and it was closed by imperial command in 391 A.D. By this time Christianity had become the de facto state religion and the Church opposed all pagan spectacles. The theatre was abandoned completely when the Roman empire fell in the 4th century A.D. It was sacked and pillaged by the Barbarians and was used as a defensive post in the Middle Ages. During the 16th century wars of religion it was used as a place of refuge and rapidly filled up with dwellings.

Theatre's rebirth

It was only in the 19th century that the theatre slowly recovered its original splendour, thanks to the restoration works begun in 1825 at the behest of the author Prosper Mérimée, who then held the position of director of “Monuments Historiques”. The tiered seats were only restored at the end of the 19th century, such was the slowness of the compulsory purchase procedures that had to be put in place.