Salon-de-Provence

Salon-de-Provence

Salon-de-Provence, town, Bouches-du-Rhône département, Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur région, southeastern France, northwest of Marseille. Founded in pre-Roman times as the oppidum (fortified town) of Le Salounet on a hill in the Val de Cuech, Salon achieved importance in the Middle Ages as a centre of the olive oil trade. It was the home of the 16th-century astrologer Nostradamus, whose house is preserved and whose tomb is in the 14th-century Collégiale Saint-Laurent. Other monuments are the fortified Château de l’Empéri (12th–13th century), a former residence of the archbishops of Arles; the 12th-century Romanesque church of Saint-Michel; and the clock tower (1630).

Salon is a centre for the processing and distribution of agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) from the surrounding area. Some of its industrial activities have merged with those of Marseille. Pop. (1999) 37,129; (2014 est.) 44,187.