Free Walking Tour Saint-Paul-de-Vence: Art and Ramparts

Your Saint-Paul-de-Vence Walking Tour, from Maeght to Chagall

1. 1

   Fondation Maeght

   

   You start on the Colline des Gardettes, the hill overlooking the village, at a museum founded by a couple who were art dealers first. Aimé and Marguerite Maeght opened their gallery in Paris in December 1945, and it quickly became a meeting place for painters, poets and writers. Matisse, Bonnard and Braque backed Aimé's projects early; Léger and Miró joined, and between 1946 and 1951 Chagall, Calder, Giacometti and Kandinsky showed there for the first time. In 1947 the couple staged the first surrealist exhibition built around André Breton and Marcel Duchamp.

   In 1964 they gave those friendships a permanent home here. The Spanish architect Josep Lluís Sert designed the building, and the collection now counts around 13,000 objects: paintings, sculpture, collages, ceramics, the whole range of modern art, from Arp and Bonnard to Kandinsky, Ellsworth Kelly and Anne Madden. For the 60th anniversary, the Paris firm Silvio d'Ascia Architecture added more than 5,000 square feet without touching Sert's original.

   Look for the small chapel dedicated to Saint Bernard. It remembers Bernard Maeght, the couple's son, who died of leukaemia at the age of eleven. The family still runs the place: Adrien Maeght chairs the council, with Isabelle and Yoyo Maeght beside him, and the foundation is funded independently, without state subsidies.

   Is it worth the ticket? This is the only stop on the walk that charges entry, and around 200,000 visitors a year think so. If 20th-century art is part of why you came, give it the bulk of your time; if not, the rest of the route is free and stands on its own. The walk to the village is 1270 m, about 17 minutes, and takes you past the Auberge de la Colombe d'Or before you reach the church.

   Hours

   Daily 10:00–18:00 (July–August: 10:00–19:00)

   Price

   18 EUR full, 14 EUR reduced

   Website

   fondation-maeght.com ↗

   Location

   Fondation Maeght on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Collegiate Church of Saint-Paul

   

   The Collegiate Church of Saint-Paul stands at the highest point of the old castrum, the fortified core of the village. Beside it stood the castle of the lords of Saint-Paul; only its tower survives, and today it's the town hall. Early Saint-Paul actually had two centres: the castrum up here, and a settlement around the church of Saint-Michel on the ground that is now the cemetery where this walk ends.

   Nobody knows exactly when the church was founded, because no documents survive. The first building had a single nave under a timber roof and a narrower square choir with a pointed barrel vault, which places it in the second half of the 13th century or the early 14th. In 1322 the parish became a perpetual vicarage. The side aisles came later, at the end of the Middle Ages or in the early 1500s, and the brick vaults of the north aisle block windows that were once open, a sign they weren't part of the original plan.

   The church's great quarrel was over its rank. In 1666 the bishop of Vence, Antoine Godeau, made it a collegiate church, which raised the clergy from three priests to twelve, with all the expense that came with them. The villagers and even the chapter's own treasurer objected, and lost before the Parlement of Provence in 1671. A bell tower over the first bay of the north aisle is on record that same year. Later changes are easy to read on the walls: two windows cut into the chevet in 1674 to light the choir, and in 1710 a window in place of the round oculus on the west front.

   Entry is free and it's still the parish church, so step in quietly. The main square is 100 m on, a minute's walk.

   Local name

   Collégiale de la Conversion-de-Saint-Paul de Saint-Paul-de-Vence

   Hours

   Mon–Fri 08:15–16:15, Sat–Sun & public holidays 10:00–18:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Collegiate Church of Saint-Paul on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Place de la Grande Fontaine

   

   One minute from the church, the village opens into its main square. The fountain gives Place de la Grande Fontaine its name, and the space around it is public, unhurried and open at any hour, free like the streets and the walls. This isn't a monument to tick off; it's where everyday life in Saint-Paul happens.

   Stand here for a moment before the street takes over. So far you've seen the dealers' collection on the hill and the parish church at the top of the castrum; from here, everything left is only minutes apart. Rue Grande begins 30 m away.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place de la Grande Fontaine on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Rue Grande

   

   The square runs straight into Rue Grande, the main pedestrian street through the historic village. Shops and galleries line it, and each keeps its own hours, so what's open as you pass depends on the day and the season.

   Treat it as a corridor with things to look at rather than a destination: browse whatever is open and let the street carry you on. The ramparts are 160 m ahead, about two minutes, and on the way you pass the Sentier Henri Layet and La Placette.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Rue Grande on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Ramparts of Saint-Paul-de-Vence

   

   The Ramparts of Saint-Paul-de-Vence were the 16th century's answer to a very real fear. Twice the troops of Emperor Charles V marched into Provence: in 1524 under Charles de Bourbon, a former constable of France who had changed sides, and again in 1536. Both times, nothing stopped them once they had crossed the Var.

   Saint-Paul acted first. In 1537 the townspeople hired a mercenary, Rozato Melino Romain, to repair the medieval walls, and that August Francis I confirmed his support for the royal town, with privileges, in an ordinance signed at Fontainebleau. In June 1538 the king was in Nice to negotiate peace with Charles V in the presence of Pope Paul III. He stayed at the château of Villeneuve-Loubet, then owned by Anne Lascaris, and came to Saint-Paul with a party that included Marshal d'Annebault and François de Bourbon-Vendôme, count of Saint-Pol, most likely to judge whether the site could serve as a defensive stronghold.

   War returned in 1543 and the siege of Nice failed. On 15 March that year Saint-Paul became the seat of a new viguerie, with Barthélemy Duport as viguier, and a royal stronghold under its governor Ugolin de Grimaldi. On 6 March 1544, in a letter written at Chambord, Francis I ordered the towns of Provence fortified, Saint-Paul among them. A few weeks later, on 11 April 1544, men from Saint-Paul fought in the French victory at Ceresole.

   The walls are free and open at all hours, the place to slow down after the shop windows and let that story settle. The cemetery lies 130 m on, about two minutes.

   Local name

   Remparts de Saint-Paul-de-Vence

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Ramparts of Saint-Paul-de-Vence on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Cemetery of Saint-Paul-de-Vence

   

   The walk ends on a height, in a cemetery laid out on both sides of a path that runs downhill, with a chapel and a calvary in the middle. Take in the view over the Provençal hills. Like the ramparts nearby, the cemetery has been a listed historic monument since a decree of 20 February 1945.

   This is where the story of the first stop closes. Aimé Maeght, the collector who built the foundation on the hill, is buried here; he died in 1981. So is Marc Chagall, born Moïse Chagalov in 1887, one of the artists who first showed at the Maeght gallery in Paris; he died in 1985. The dancer Ida Rubinstein, who died in 1960, lies here too.

   This ground also takes you back to the village's beginnings: early Saint-Paul had a settlement here around the church of Saint-Michel, perhaps even before the castle was built. Entry is free, but unlike the walls the cemetery keeps opening hours, so don't leave it to the very end of the day.

   Local name

   Cimetière de Saint-Paul-de-Vence

   Hours

   1 Apr–30 Sep: daily 08:00–18:30; winter: daily 09:00–17:30

   Price

   Free

   Website

   saintpauldevence.org ↗

   Location

   Cemetery of Saint-Paul-de-Vence on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways Through Saint-Paul-de-Vence

The full route links the museum on the hill with the old village. If you only want one of the two, these cuts work well.

The village only

Stops: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For anyone without time or interest for the museum. Start at the Collegiate Church of Saint-Paul and stay inside the old village: about 6 minutes of walking in total, and every stop is free.

Art on the hill, then into the village

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For art lovers with half a day. Give the Fondation Maeght its time, then walk over to the church and finish at the fountain square: about 18 minutes of walking, and the Fondation is the only entry you pay.

How Long the Saint-Paul-de-Vence Walk Takes, With and Without the Museum

The pure walking time is 23 minutes, and 17 of them are the single leg from the Fondation Maeght to the church. After that, the village stops sit only one or two minutes apart.

A proper visit to the Fondation takes about an hour and a half; add roughly an hour for the church, the square, Rue Grande, the walls and the cemetery, and the full walk comes to about three hours. Skip the museum interior and it's about an hour and a half. The village-only variant takes about an hour, the art variant about two hours.

Before You Set Off

• Start: The Fondation Maeght is the recommended start, but you can join the route at any stop.
• Finish: The walk ends at the Cemetery of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, just beyond the ramparts.
• Time of day: Go in the daytime. The Fondation and the cemetery both keep opening hours, while the square, Rue Grande and the walls are open at any hour.
• Entry: Only the Fondation Maeght charges admission. The church, the square, the street, the ramparts and the cemetery are free.

Common Questions about Saint-Paul-de-Vence