Roman theater in Arles is very close to the Roman amphitheater. The theater was built in the end of the I century BC, and an amphitheater - a little later, but both buildings were architectural complex where residents Arelate come to have fun. The theater could seat up to eight thousand people.

The theater survived worse than his nearest neighbor, but the archaeological finds made in the former theater, considered unique and are kept in museums in Paris and Arles. For example, "Arlesian Venus" (one of the statues that adorned the stage and found in 1651) is now kept at the Louvre. There was also found a fragment of another statue - head of the goddess Diana. In addition to the figures of the two goddesses graced the stage of the theater statue of Emperor Augustus, in which this structure was built, and the altar of the god Apollo, who was devoted to the theater.

The stage was surrounded by many stone columns of three orders - there were about a hundred, but to date only two have survived relating to the Corinthian Order and called "tower Rotlanda" - in honor of the Archbishop of Arles, who lived in the IX century. Rotland may have been one of those people who have influenced the safety and appearance of the theater. The fact is that since the V century, a place of pagan spectacles "supplied" stone for the construction of other buildings: a theater dismantled in order to build a cathedral or the city wall. Later, in the range of the theater began to emerge residential and other buildings, about the same process of "settling" took place in the amphitheater near.

Only in the first half and 60-ies of the XIX century, the theater began to dismiss the later buildings, it ordered the then mayor of Arles Baron Shartruz.

Today, the scene of the Roman theater is the venue for cultural events, including the July festival, whose members dressed in traditional Provencal costumes and festivals photos and historical films. In addition, the theater is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.