APT  , a

town of south-eastern France, in the department of Vaucluse, on the left bank of the Coulon, 41 M . E. of Avignon by rail . Pop . (1906) 4990 . The town was formerly surrounded by massive ancient walls, but these have now been for the most part replaced by boulevards; many of its streets are narrow and irregular . The chief object of interest is the church of Sainte-Anne (once the cathedral), the building of which was begun about the year 1056 on the site of a much older edifice, but not completed until the latter half of the 17th century . Many Roman remains have been found in and near the town . A fine bridge, the Pont Julien, spanning the Coulon below the town, dates from the 2nd or 3rd century . A tribunal of first instance and a communal college are the chief public institutions . The chief manufactures are silk, confectionery and earthenware; and there is besides a considerable trade in fruit, grain and cattle . Apt was at one time the chief town of the Vulgientes, a Gallic tribe; it was destroyed by the Romans about 125 B.C. and restored by Julius Caesar, who conferred upon it the title Apia Julia; it was much injured by the Lombards and the Saracens, but its fortifications were rebuilt by the counts of Provence . The bishopric, founded in the 3rd century, was suppressed in 1790 .