Aix en Provence
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Aix-en-Provence [ ɛksɑ̃pʁɔvɑ̃s ] ( Provençal : Ais or z - Ais ) is the historic capital of Provence . It is today a French commune in the South-East of France, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône , of which it issub-prefecture , in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region . It forms with 35 other municipalities the country of Aix within the Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis .
The inhabitants of Aix are called Aixois in French (in Provençal: lei sestian ).
Founded in 122 BC. AD under the name of Aquae Sextiae by the Roman garrison of Caius Sextius Calvinus , Aix later became the capital of the county of Provence .
The municipality has 147,122inhabitants in 2020, making it the 23rd most populated in France. Along with Marseille, it constitutes an area of attraction for a city which had 1,879,601 inhabitants in 2020 1 , i.e. the third area of attraction for a city in France.
A spa town since Antiquity, Aix-en-Provence has an important cultural heritage (architecture, Granet museum , lyrical art festival , Grand Théâtre de Provence , etc.) and asserts itself as an important tourist centre. City of water, it is nicknamed the "City of a Hundred Fountains" or even "Copenhagen du Midi" byMarcel Pagnol 2 .