the tarots of aix en provence

The fountain of the Rotonde, Photography © Dave Pot

Did you know that the city of Aix en Provence produced as many tarot as the city of Marseille ?

Aix en Provence is a small town of 150 000 inhabitants located 20 minutes from the famous city of Marseille.

Founded by the romans in 122 BC, Aix has always been considered as the culture capital of Provence. During the french Renaissance, Aix was the cultural and administrative center of Provence whereas Marseille was the economic heart thanks to its port.
This historical context created competition betwin these two rival towns.

According to Henry René d’Allemagne, the first “Maîtres Cartiers” of Aix en Provence appeared during the second part of the XVII th century and ended at the end of the XVIII th century because of the rising price of paper.

The city of Aix en Provence counted more than 250 fountains

According to Thierry Depaulis, from 1669 to the XVIII th century, the competition between Aix and Marseille was extended to the card production.
The competition was very tight, for exemple, in 1696, there were 8 playing cards factories in Aix and 9 in Marseille so the production volume was very similar.

Strangely, we have no record of a complete tarot deck made in Aix en Provence, all I could find is 6 tarot de Marseille cards from the XVII th century that I will show you soon.

Why did we find many tarot decks produced in Marseille and no tarot from Aix en Provence ?

According to my researches, these tarots still exist but they are not owned by the museums, they are owned by old and rich families of Aix en Provence.

But I continue my investigations hoping I would one day be able to restore a complete tarot de Marseille deck made in Aix en Provence.

To be continued...

Church of Sainte Marie Madeleine, Aix en Provence