The Arènes d'Arles is the second largest Roman amphitheatre ever built, surpassed only by the Colosseum in Rome.

Dating from the 1st century CE, it once seated 22,000 spectators who came to watch gladiatorial contests and animal hunts. Its remarkable preservation owes something to medieval resourcefulness: when the Roman Empire collapsed, locals converted the arena into a fortress and built 200 houses inside its walls. The 19th-century restoration swept away these dwellings and returned the amphitheatre to its original purpose, though the entertainment shifted from gladiators to bulls.

Van Gogh attended bullfights here with Paul Gauguin in 1888. True to form, he painted not the grand architecture but the crowd: multicoloured spectators packed three tiers deep, their figures catching sun and shadow beneath the arena's immense circle.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace Van Gogh's Arles, revealing how this Roman relic became a canvas for the artist's fascination with ordinary people rather than monuments.