History
Prehistoric
- 4000 B.C. : A prehistoric open air site occupied by sheperds.
Antiquity
- 35-30 B.C. : Foundation of Arausio by veterans of the 2nd Roman Legion.
Roman monuments are still to be seen today :
- Roman Theatre
- Traces and remains of the hill’s temples and the hemicycle
- Arch
- Traces and remains of the surrounding town wall (towers) and the aqueduct
- The forum west wall
- Cadastres in the town museum
- 77 A.D. : The engraving of the cadastres in marble ordered by the emperor Vespasien.
- 460 A.D. : The hill overlooking the Roman Theatre takes its name from the episcopate of St Eutrope, the town’s patron saint.
The Middle Ages
- 793 : Legendary date of the seizure of Orange, from the Saracens by William au Cornet (Little Horn), count of Orange and companion of Charlesmagne.
At the end of his life, William abandoned all worldly wealth and entered the monastry.
After his canonization this monastry became St Guilhelm-le-désert.
The Middle Ages and Renaissance
- 1096 : Raimbaud, Count of Orange, participated in the First Crusade. His statue can be seen in the place de la Republique.
- 1150 : Testament of Tiburge, Princess of Orange. Her daughter Tiburge married Bertrand of Baux.
- 1150-1393 : The Princes of Baux are in control of the principality of Orange.
- 1208 : Consecration of the cathedral Notre-Dame of Nazareth in the presence of Prince Guillaume of Baux. The South entrance is a typical example of romanesque-provencal art.
- 1348 : The Black Plague decimates almost half of the population.
- 1353 : Liberal charter accorded to the jews by Raymond V of the Baux.
- 1393-1530 : The principality passed into the possession of the Chalon family.
- XV° century : The Cordeliers, a lower order of the Franciscan friars, already established in Orange, settled in Place du Theatre Antique. Church of St Florent with its gothic front.
- 1530 : The death of heirless Philibert of Chalon. His nephew, René of Nassau, inheritated the principality of Orange.
- 1530-1702 : The period of the Princes of Nassau.
- 1544 : William 1st of Nassau, Prince of Orange and Staholder of the Netherlands, known as the Silent. The portraits of the Princes of Nassau can be seen in the museum.
- 1562 : Period marked by the religious wars in Orange. The catholics mounted a punitive expedition against the protestants in Orange.
- 1620 : Maurice of Nassau transformed the Prince’s palace into a modern fortress.
- 1665 : William III d’Orange who became King of England in 1689.
- 1673 : Louis XIV ordered the total destruction of the fortress. The ruins are still visible on the hill.
- 1702-1731 : Period of the Princes of Bourbon-Conti.
- 1702 : Death of William III. The principality fell to Francois Louis of Bourbon, Prince of Conti.
- 1703 : The principality of Orange was seized by Louis XIV. Expulsion of the protestants.
- 1713 : Official annexation of the principality to the Kingdom of France by the Treaty of Utrecht.
- 1718 : Restitution of the principality to Louis Armand, Prince of Bourbon-Conti.
- 1720 : The Great Plague, 550 victims.
- 1731 : Under Louis XV the principality was transferred permanently under the control of the Dauphiné.
- 1757 : Opening of the Wetter’s indian fabric factory.
In the museum’s Wetter’s hall can be seen 18th century canvases illustrating the different stages of the printing of Indian cloth.
Revolution
Empires and restauration
- 1790 : Rodolphe d’Aymard, first mayor of orange, interviened the 10th and 11th June 1790 at the head of the National Guard to put an end to the riots in Avignon.
- 1793 : Orange became part of the Departement of Vaucluse.
- 1794 : The revolutionary tribunal in Orange executed 332 people.
- 1824 : Start of the clearing and the restoration of the Roman Theatre by Auguste Caristie.
- 1869 : Roman Festival : First presentations in the Roman Theatre which would become the « Choregies » of Orange (Lyric Festival).
Contemporary era
- 1903 : Sarah Bernhardt played « Phèdre » in the Roman Theatre.
- 1915 : Death of Jean-Henri Fabre, entomologist.
Muséum of Natural History in Sérignan du Comtat (6 km from Orange).
- 1924 : Town flooding : water 1.5 m deep in the town center.
- 1940 : Building of the Caritat Air Force Base.
- 1952 : Visit of Queen Juliana of Holland who planted an oaktree on the hill.
- 1967 : Implantation of the French Foreign Legion : 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment.
- 1991 : Creation of a parvis in front of the Roman Theatre, restored in 1988.
- 2006 : The Antique Theatre became a world-wide exclusivity : it is the only antique theatre with a stage-roof but also, the only theatre in the World with a well-conserved stage-wall.