Arles, France - 17 June 2020; No people in view. Arles is a fine old city on the Rh??e River in the Provence region of southern France, with a history extending back to Roman times and even further to Celts and Ligurians around 800 BCE. This obelisk and fountain certainly has quite a history. The Obisque d'Arles is a 4th-century Roman monument, erected in the centre of the Place de la Rublique, in front of the town hall of Arles, France. It was first built under the Roman emperor Constantine II in the centre of the Roman circus of the city. After the circus was abandoned in the 6th century, the obelisk fell down and was broken. It was rediscovered in the 14th century and re-erected in 1676. Since 1866, the ornaments to the obelisk were permanently removed and replaced by a bronze capstone until a fountain and the sculptures around it - shown here in close up - were designed by Antoine Laurent Dantan in the 19th century. Note - image from analogue film.