Long ago an industrious commercial hub for a multitude of Europe's imperial states, the city of Aries today evinces a becalmed lack of urgency after centuries of relative dormancy. An ancient seat of government for the Greeks, Romans, and Gauls, and the site of an important early Christian bishopric, Aries fell into decline during the Dark Ages. In the tenth century, Aries regained much of its former splendor when it became the capital of the Kingdom of Aries. In the city, no longer situationally imperative to European planners, is primarily a center of art, a role it began to develop during Vincent Van Gogh's prolific stay there in 1888-90. The Greeks and the Phoenicians were most likely the first civilized inhabitants of Aries; evidence of their stay dates to the sixth century b.c. The late Middle Ages saw the development of another of Aries's notable sites, the church and cloister of St.-Trophime.