Alcove Oratories... in Aix-en-Provence.

With its majestic Cours Mirabeau, and the countless streets and alleys that criss-cross a beautiful historic centre punctuated with centuries-old fountains, Aix-en-Provence offers so much to see that you literally do not know what to gaze at first when strolling around. The grand carved doors, set in equally imposing doorways with their massive sculpted forms that peer down at passers-by draw my attention whenever I visit the city and this time was no exception.

However, I decided to focus a little more on those other figures that likewise stare down at the throngs of aixois and visitors going about their business on the busy pavements below, unaware of being observed...

Indeed, once you notice one of these small oratory statues poised high above, set on the corner of a building at the end of a street, you become conscious of the others... of which there are many!

Although a serene Virgin Mary - often holding the infant Jesus - appears to be the most common figures, in fact she shares the skyline with various Saints, hands raised in prayer from their alcove pedestals above...

These other oratory forms were somehow rather more intriguing and I did wonder what they were supposed to represent or refer to...

While many of the statues were plain and sober, others were colourful...

Some were standing in decorative alcoves...

That are almost like shells, bearing their figures protectively...

Or like miniature shrines, guarded by wire mesh...

Some of very modest proportions...

Sometimes in the shade of the surroundeding plane trees...

Or in the searing heat and bright sunshine...

But many of them having to tolerate the invasive presence of modern-day urban paraphernalia such as lighting, street signs,drainpipes and cables...

Such intrusion does not seem to alter their calm, however...

Mary and the Child seem unperturbed by all this modernity...

And some versions of Mary appear to be the very image of serenity itself...

Or that of joy and peace...

All of this caused me to wonder why Aix should have so many of these beautiful oratories, in addition to numerous churches across the city....

The answer was simple; over the centuries, the people of Aix sought Salvation from the earthly challenges that decimated their population; plague, drought, wild fires and the usual lot of common mortals.

Unable to attend religious services in times of contagion and confinement, the aixois would worship from the street or from their windows, using the alcove oratories on the buildings, praying for deliverance from their plight.

Those who lived to survive, and whose prayers had been answered would gather to offer praise...