Des Baux à Lourmarin, une histoire en pierres vives | Châteaux de Provence

Des Baux à Lourmarin, une histoire en pierres vives | Châteaux de Provence | Trésors du Patrimoine

Magnificent landscapes where the
blue sky embraces the olive fields. Villages full of charm,
lulled by the song of the cicadas. And incredible castles
with a tormented history. Welcome to Provence. Through the discovery of three
emblematic castles, the castle of Lourmarin, the Tour d’Aigues and the site of Baux
de Provence, we will retrace the history of this
independent territory, only united with the kingdom of France in 1481 and fully integrated in 1539. The
first The last stage of our route takes us on the trail of a kingdom
of stones in the heart of the Alpilles. It is a rocky promontory which gave
rise to the word beau because, coming from bahou,
it means escarpment, rocky. And so the site here was dug out
to create so-called troglodyte dwellings,
but it is a rather unusual fortified castle since we can say that half
of its rampart is made of natural rock and the other half has been developed. And so reading the site today is
difficult to understand, but we can easily imagine it with
towers which are perpetuated on the slightly cardinal points
and characteristics of the site, which are rocky promontories. And between each tower, a rampart was
built or built into the rock. The first traces of the city of Les Baux
de Provence date back to the Middle Ages. However, the site has been
occupied since prehistoric times. It must be said that the geographical location
of this rocky promontory is ideal because it offers natural protection. This rock, abruptly,
offers a respite to all the human settlements which, since
prehistory, have come to take refuge here. For what ? Quite simply because of
the defensive nature of the place, we are on a strategy of withdrawal. And what’s more, we have a panorama
that opens up and allows us to see very far. This is how the site developed
over the centuries, until the Middle Ages, a real turning point
for Les Baux de Provence. The medieval history of this rock is born from a legend. After the birth of the baby Jesus,
the wise man Balthazar is said to have continued his journey following the Star
of Bethlehem to Le Baux de Provence. To claim this illustrious lineage,
the descendants of Balthazar use the star at Caesarea on their coat of arms
and take as their motto Al azar bautés Balthazar, in other
words: O chance, Balthazar. This supposedly legendary lineage is
at the origin of the first fortified city in the 10th century. And it was his descendants who ordered
the construction of the 13th century castle. Over the generations,
the Baux lineage would extend the number of its possessions throughout the south. The first ones that are listed date
from the 10th century, or even a little earlier, from the 9th. There is a trace of habitat which is to be
tested, but the line of the lords of Baux, strictly speaking,
still really takes in the 11th century. But as early as the 10th century,
there were traces of fortifications. And so there, we were in a
strategic position which allowed us to dominate both the Croce valley with its
marshes and the obligatory crossing points for crossing the Alpilles. So, it was first a
military stronghold and then it became the seat of
political power that extended throughout the surrounding region. It is said that during the prosperous period there were
more than 80 places, cantons which belonged to or
depended on the city of Les Baux. And so, this power
really spread from what was at first a military fortress,
then which became a place of lordly habitation, then which was abandoned,
given away, which was restored again and the lords came to live there. And in the meantime, they were going off to spend time,
you see, either in the context of the Crusades
or in the context of conquests in Italian territory. Although the site offered all the guarantees
on the military level, the supply of drinking water
remained more problematic at the time. There is no water on the rock. So it is the residents who have to
go out, go outside, go in particular to the
Fontaine valley, which bears its name very well , to bring back water
and of course, store it. From the 13th century onwards,
very complex installations were put in place,
including a cistern with a perforated wall and a filtration system, in which
natural sponges were placed. And on the other side, there are sands,
different modules which allow, by decantation, to
produce consumable water. Here we see the facade of the rock
which is striated by calisations, by in any case the imprint of calisation,
which are vertical. And on both sides,
we have rockfill, squares which allow us to insert
stone blocks and hold the calisation
which will of course feed a cistern. And then this one will feed
a second one, and so on. And then finally, the last one, the big one,
which allows stagnant water to be transformed into drinkable water. The military history of Les Baux goes
through the Bauxing Wars, in the 12th century, between 1144 and 1162. Provence was integrated very
late into the kingdom of France, and for a very long time,
it was ultimately a small independent country, in a way,
we could say, an independent province. First Roman, then,
in medieval times, a seigneurial province
which belonged to the county of Provence. Even before joining the County
of Provence, she was truly independent. And so, it is a very ancient story
which has marked and symbolized the history of Provence,
with wars of succession which were at the origin of very intense conflicts,
here, which were called the Baussinck wars, throughout the 12th century. And so, this little rock is a confetti
of the history of and sums up very well the struggles for influence until
the integration of Provence into the kingdom of the French,
ultimately quite late. Following sieges and wars,
the lordship eventually fell to René of Anjou,
known as the good King René. In 1481, a year after the latter’s death
, Les Baux was attached to the kingdom of France. But the king was wary of this fortress,
so powerful and so far from his court, for fear that it might fall into the hands
of the Crown’s enemies, and he ordered its dismantling. There is both a reading
on the walls which allows us to understand the history and imagine what
the splendor of this castle could have been. And then its current state,
which must be remembered, is in fact the consequence
of destructions that were ordered. So, it’s not that the site
has been abandoned. It was certainly in a recent period,
I mean, 18th, 19th century, finally, post-revolution, ultimately. But the current state of the site was
the succession of at least two major destructions ordered by the kings of France,
who wanted to dismantle the ramparts of the citadel because it was a
rebel stronghold and the royal power wanted to establish its authority, therefore
twice resulted in the destruction of the site. The Lordship was then
transformed into a barony. It is awarded as a reward
of recognition to the faithful servant of the King of France. The most famous remains
the Constable of Montmorency. It was he who restored the castle
at the beginning of the 16th century. The residential buildings were partly
rebuilt and Montmorency introduced Italian Renaissance architecture
to Provence. So in fact here,
we are at the current entrance, modern in any case, the
main entrance to the village. This access was built in the second
half of the 19th century, simply because it was much
more practical than the original entrance gate to the village, which
had a purely defensive aspect. You have to imagine that there was a
building here that dates back to the end of the 15th century. Here it was full, leaning against the rampart. This of course explains the presence
of this chimney which did not originally open onto the outside. You have to imagine that the building went
as far as where you can see the remains of the window and that we were therefore here
on the ground floor, on the first level, which was generally reserved
for domestic staff and practical work. And we can imagine that here,
we were in the kitchen, simply because the size
of the chimney tells us that we could bring whole cattle into the
chimney to be able to grill them. We must also imagine that there were
benches dug into the rock and which allowed people
to shelter as close as possible to the hearth, because in winter, here,
the mistral can blow very strongly. So we have around
200 fires, therefore 200 families. People came to settle in order to be close to
the Constable of Montmorency, who had an international aura
at that time and who allowed him, for example, to
bring King Francis I. But this ephemeral peace was threatened by the wars of religion, because Les Baux, managed by the Manville family,
had become a Protestant stronghold. There is indeed strong evidence
of the presence of a temple or at least a place of worship where Protestants
could practice their religion. In the basements,
in the cellars of this private mansion, there was a fairly large Protestant community
between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century,
which was possible thanks to the presence of the watchman of Baux, who was called Claude de Mendeville and who would give his name to this
private mansion, which, in addition to being the town hall, is the Hôtel de Mandide. In 1631,
the royal decision to abolish the Parliament of Provence provoked
a revolt in Aix-en-Provence. The fortress of Baux is
once again in the hands of the Insurgents. Cardinal Richelieu decides
to destroy this rebellious city. He besieged the city for 27 days
and had the fortress dismantled in 1633. The ramparts were demolished and the citadel
finally surrendered to royal power. Since 1642, the Lord of Les Baux has
been none other than the Prince of Monaco. Louis XIII gives the Marquis of Baux
to the first prince honored by Grimaldi. The Grimaldi family has an obligation
to demilitarize the site, precisely, to remove and dismantle all
traces of the military past so that it is no longer a strategic location. Yes, he is still a foreign prince,
in the eyes, of course, of the King of France. Certainly, who has the French protectorate,
but he remains a foreign prince. So, with this obligation,
he appoints stonemasons, masons and salvagers who will
then set about dismantling certain parts, not of the walls,
but above all anything that can be linked in any way to the war,
the loopholes, we no longer have any of them, the guns and others. So all of that is carefully erased,
even the patrol path. There are only two sections of walls left,
in quotation marks, which are not very high,
and which were built directly into the rock of the mountain. And so, these are the only rare
vestiges of this somewhat military era. And so there is a tradition
from father to son. They passed on
the title of Marquis d’Ébeau. It continues to this day. And it is still said that the chapel of
Saint Catherine, which is just behind me, behind my back, is still registered
as belonging to the Principality. Today, it is a bond of the
heart and honor that unites the two. It is a marquisate,
but an honorary one. Here we are at a gate which was
truly one of the main elements of the defensive aspect of the village
for several reasons. First, the fact that there is only
one entrance door makes it much easier to monitor
than if you have, for example, 10. Then, the second aspect of this
defensive system is the size of the door itself, which is very narrow. So, if you were heavily armed
or on a horse, you wouldn’t fit through the doorway. The third aspect of the defensive system,
and here, the people of Provence will know what I’m talking about, is the street that goes down to
the door, which is called a calade in Provence. Here too, one must imagine that it was
impossible to push heavy siege engines on this type of street. Fourth First aspect of the
defensive system, we see the remains of the staircase which led to the patrol path,
which went around the village above the rampart which surrounded it. And finally, the fifth and final aspect
of this defensive system, we must imagine that this gate was
really the last one before accessing the village, but that there were three
others strictly identical to this one, which were connected to each other
by a flat roof, in any case gently sloping,
on which one could walk, which served as a bit of an extension to the patrol path. And so, we had a kind of
defensive tunnel that started from here and went down to the Fontaine valley. There, we crossed the Porte Aigière
and when we look up, we see, or at least we can guess,
the remains of coats of arms that were hammered out during the French Revolution. This is the coat of arms of the
Grimaldi family, of course, the princely family of Monaco. The Grimaldis own many
territories outside the Principality. Les Baux de Provence is one of them. There is obviously
a privileged link between management. So, we had the honor of receiving him
on different occasions, coming to these territories, to these lands. So, it’s always fun because there
‘s this historical anecdote that really has a basis, that is attested. And so, for a while,
until the revolution, it was finally the land of the Monegasques, here. After the revolution,
the citadel, impoverished by the loss of its political and military role, was deserted. The village of Ébault is seeing its population
decline dramatically. The number of inhabitants fell from 3,000
in the 13th century to less than 400 at the end of the 19th century. Since the revolution, the village
has been inhabited more by animals, goats,
than by men, because we are secluded here, and so,
suddenly, we prefer to leave the rock to swallow it. And the village is occupied only
for festivals, on the occasion of the festivals of the consul of Waux,
on the occasion, of course, of religious festivals, since
the Church is not abandoned. More than half of the buildings,
even the most prestigious, are completely abandoned
and are handed over to salvagers who use each
reusable stone for sale or simply to
restore other homes. Ultimately, all life is
concentrated outside, in the quarries. Quarries that are active
and offer a bustling activity and which will ultimately be
the only interest of the site. The village of Les Baux is marked
by a history that is a bit uneven in terms of occupation,
but always continuous. This story could be compared
to that of a panapsest. It is a parchment
on which one has written, rewritten. And to rewrite, you have to scratch. And so, in the end,
we have a document that is perhaps not necessarily very easy to read,
but in any case which shines through its importance and its
continued use. If today,
the village attracts visitors from all over the world,
they owe it to the encounter with two artists in the mid-1940s,
the engraver Louis Jou and Yves Breyère. He was a painter who arrived in 1945, 1946, on his honeymoon. And on the back of his bicycle,
there was a small box of watercolorists which of course caught the eye of Louis Jouh, who called out to him. And he is a guest to be his guide. And the two of them talked about art
and a friendship was born. And this friendship allowed Yves
Brailleur to come regularly to the beautiful. But when he was in Paris,
he sold his drawings, his watercolors of Les Baux,
because he became one of the ambassadors of this region
which was on everyone’s radar. And so, that’s how he met
a fairly well-known artist named Pablo Picasso. Pablo will invite Yves Braillère
to follow a bullfight and in thanks,
Yves Braillère will be his guide in the beautiful. And the following year,
Pablo Picasso returned with Jean Cocteau, who returned with Jean Marais,
Jules Brunert, Aznavour, and shot The Testament of Orpheus. When Cocteau arrived at the end of Provence,
the village was deserted, it was unknown to anyone, and he himself,
in his memoirs, wrote that at that time, the intelligentsia,
the artists, were interested in only one part of the south of France,
which was between Cannes and Saint-Tropez,
while the future would turn, according to him, towards the hinterland.
And where? Exactly where his film is shot,
where he has set up his camera, an extraordinary place, full of history,
full of images. And that’s what he wants to capture. Everyone has an anecdote
to share about their visit. And among, I would say,
the anecdotes that I heard, there was of course something quite
surprising which, at first, destabilized me. This was Odet Girard’s remark,
who said that she had been surprised, not only by the arrival
of Jean Marais or Picasso, but by the presence of cars. So it’s true that at the time,
I was destabilized myself. Why What are these cars? And looking at
Lucien Clergue’s photo, I discovered the American cars of the gypsies,
then the biller’s car, her caravan, the makeup artist’s car,
her caravan, then Jean Marais’s dressing room,
and then Picasso’s car, then Dominguez’s car. In short, before my eyes, I
simply had the first testimony of the first bottling of Les Baux, 1959. Jean Cocteau’s film brings
the castle and the village out of oblivion. It must be
said that over an area of less than one square kilometer, the Baux site has
a concentration of buildings classified as historic monuments which takes
the visitor on a real journey through time. There are 22 architectural elements that are
listed or classified as historical monuments. So, I think we must have
one of the most important classified heritage concentrations
in the PACA region. There are buildings, in particular,
which are the perfect example of this journey through time. The church of Saint-Vincent, for example,
with the trace of a troglodyte chapel, therefore dug into the rock,
which certainly dates from the end of the 10th century, beginning of the 11th century,
then a central bay from the 12th century. And then, a bay that was added
half a millennium later, at the beginning of the 17th century, in 1609, to be exact. So inside,
the journey through time and architecture is much
more obvious than outside. Another thing to note are the quarries which
have also spanned all the eras of Les Baux. Today, they have become a
cultural center of international renown. Cocteau fell in love with this place
and tried to build a legend there. This legend
is owed to him today, because nearly a million visitors
come to discover the castle, but also its quarries. These quarries which today offer
almost a nod to his passage, since it is a spectacle of light
which between the walls and the ground that the painter and the poet trod. It is a very old site,
which was exploited massively in the 19th century, before sinking
into oblivion and closing the part located between the two wars,
because of competition from concrete. And so stone mining became
less profitable and less interesting, until the site was completely closed
after the Second World War. And then a loss of abandonment where the site
returned a little to a wild state, until in the 80s,
the site was taken over to make slide projections
on very varied themes of artists, but not only the
discovery of countries too. Our goal is to introduce
art and artists to a very diverse audience and in a
slightly different way from what you might encounter in museums. So, we advocate immersion. Immersion
means combining images with a specific sound and truly creating a dive
into the very heart of the works of art, ultimately, where visitors see details they
hadn’t seen before, see paintings that are sometimes animated. You can even see the brushstroke. It is this discovery that is offered
in the light quarries and which has become a fairly
emblematic place of what we call the immersive digital exhibitions
which have been developed since Les Baux. The second stage of our Provençal castles route takes us to Vaucluse,
and more precisely to the village of La Tour d’Aigues. This village takes its name from a tower
built in the 11th century, with the aim of monitoring the roads
between Aix-en-Provence and Pertuis. The Béranger Tower
is the first trace of a castle here, but nothing remains today
of this first fortification, except for the name of a district. The Old Castle district. Between the 11th and 13th centuries,
little is known about the evolution of the castle. In fact, it was probably just a
simple wooden tower, this castle. And the village will develop around
this tower and the devil Paul of power which was the church. In the 13th century, the fiefdom of Tour d’Aigues
belonged to a powerful family, the Sabrans family. They decided to abandon this first
castle, in order to be able to enlarge it, since on one side there was the cliff
and on the other the village. They decide to abandon it
to build a keep, a new castle, outside the village. In 1420, Fouque d’Agu
became lord of the Tour d’Aigues. He had a castle built
around the original keep. He is a rich lord,
friend and chamberlain of King René. And it is this, in fact, which will give the appearance which will then be preserved over the following centuries,
that is to say a paradepiped. We have the dungeon and buildings are added
around the dungeon. And now we have four corner towers,
two at the rear, two are still visible at the rear,
to the northeast and west, and two at the front. Three moats on three sides and a
factory bridge, truly typical of the castle. Fouque d’Agu dramatically changed
the environment of the castle. To feed these moats,
he created an irrigation system to drain water from the Luberon. To do this,
he also undertook the creation of an artificial pond, the Étang de la Bonde,
and an aqueduct of almost 18 kilometers. From 1425 to 1503,
Fouquet and his nephew Raymond made La Tourdègue their favorite residence. During the Renaissance, the castle
underwent further transformations. In a quarter of a century,
the medieval building gave way to a superb Renaissance residence under
the leadership of Baron Jean-Louis Nicolas de Boulier. He is sent to the royal court,
to the rancid times for his education and training. And it is in this context that he will
discover the Louvre, but above all that he will witness
the transformations taking place at the Château des Courants. And so, when he went back down
to Tournagne and saw that, in order to bring his dark medieval castle back to life
, he decided to transform it to
bring it up to date. To do this, he had
the entire front part of the castle demolished. And we are really
in the middle, in fact, there. The entire front part of the castle,
the towers and the surrounding wall, to build on the model of the
corner castle, sorry, the two pavilions, and then, a little later, the gate. He will spend his life beautifying the castle. Here, we really have a typical
Renaissance setting, where formal beauty is the absolute priority. You have to imagine this scenery
reflected in the water. We have bosses studded with stars. Have you seen this slightly surreal setting? Varnished bosses,
smooth bosses. For the roofs,
we must imagine very high open slate roofs. The slate is absolutely not typical
of Provence, but he truly transposed what he
had discovered in Île-de-France. And in terms of influences, really,
we will find in the main courtyard large monumental entrances
like at the Château des Courants and also similarities with
the Louvre in the de Lochin. It was the most beautiful castle in Provence. Until the Revolution,
it was the castle that was truly considered the most
beautiful residence in Provence. The Tour d’Aigues is becoming a
must-see place in Provence. He welcomed King Francis I
and Catherine de Medici. She lives in the Northwest Tower. There are many legends surrounding her
passing, but she did pass, we have written traces. One of these legends says that the gate
was planed to accommodate Catherine de Medici’s carriage. Upon the death of Jean-Louis Nicolas
de Boulier, it was the Countess of Saut, a Christian woman from Aguère,
who inherited the castle. From 1598 to 1612, it undertook
new transformations. There is not really a huge amount
of change from an architectural point of view,
except for the dome of the keep. And there is a redesign
of the facade of the dungeon as well. There are monograms
and then there are cabinets. And so, the monograms have
often been misinterpreted and have fueled many legends, and in
particular that the baron would have left traces of the passage
of Catherine de Medici with M, etc. But actually, it’s not an M. When you
‘re on the first floor of the dungeon, you see two Cs between the C. Then, what looks like an M
is the Greek letter lambda, the L, it’s the L, and then two Ds. And these are the Crékys, the Dix
of a large Dauphiné family. The work was interrupted by the
almost simultaneous deaths of Chrétienne D’Aguerre and her client,
Étienne Pascal. The castle will sink into ruin,
abandonment and oblivion. It was nevertheless bought in 1719
by Jean-Baptiste Bruni, a forgotten Marseille shipowner,
and the new Baron de la Tour d’Aigues, as well as his son and grandson,
restored and modernized the castle. It was the Age of Enlightenment,
so he was truly representative of the character of the Age of Enlightenment. He will be interested in a lot of things,
especially earthenware. The reason why
there is a pottery museum. He created his earthenware factory
outside the castle around 1750. It would produce for
around thirty years. And from this earthenware factory,
white earthenware will come out, coat-of-arms earthenware,
with the Bruni coat of arms, with the deer. And then also, we found
a dish in orange monochrome. It was the Age of Enlightenment,
but he was still very attached to certain privileges. And the reason why
the castle is in this state today is that there was a series
of lawsuits between the Tondègre community and the Bruni family. And for example, they will
reinstate taxes that have not existed since the Renaissance. He will ask these valleys
to be greeted on their knees. Lots of things like that. And so, suddenly, when the revolution
broke out, the castle was not spared, it was truly pillaged. In 1780, a first accidental fire
ravaged the north wing of the building. It was then rebuilt economically
to house the servants. While the work
is not yet completed. In September 1792, a group
of revolutionaries attacked the building. The castle burned for five days. Reduced to a state of ruin,
it fell into abandonment once again. The castle served as a quarry for the inhabitants
of the village and the surrounding area in the 19th century. What remained of the building was bought in
1897 by the Vaucluse general council. If I remember correctly, archaeological excavations began here in 1976. And it is thanks to these
archaeological excavations, precisely, that the earthenware of the Tour d’Aigues
resurfaced. The castle and the earthenware museum
opened their doors to the public in 1985. The following year, the Château de la Tour
d’Aigues hosted the first shows, becoming
a key cultural center. There is a lively, rich
cultural activity in the monument with… So, since that date,
with conferences, shows inside and in the summer outside,
in the main courtyard. So, what seems to have been happening since 2017
is a dance festival that takes place in July, on
Fridays at the Tower too, with one concert per month
in August, every Friday. And then,
a contemporary art exhibition. I think it’s good to include
today’s artists in a place like this, so full of history. Because still,
we feel things. The place is still there, though. He impresses. When we arrive, we see this carcass
which is the completely disemboweled stone. He questions, he doesn’t… He doesn’t leave you indifferent. It really doesn’t leave you indifferent. And I think this dialogue
with today’s artists is good. Less than 20 kilometers from the Tour
d’Aigues, between the Durance and the Luberon, amidst olive trees and
fruit trees, we discover the village of Lourmarin. Listed among the most beautiful villages
in France, it once attracted two famous writers, Henri Bosco
and Albert Camus, who took up residence there. Henri Bosco describes the village as a place
conducive to friendship, while Albert Camus speaks of a homeland
of overwhelming beauty. Just as overwhelming as its
imposing castle overlooking Lourmarin. A castle which, like that of the Tour
d’Aigues, once belonged to Lord Fouque-d’Agu and his family. The Agu family acquired the lands
of Lourmarin, built the medieval part in the 15th century,
and it was the descendants of Lord Fouquet d’Agou, his nephew Louis d’Agu,
who built the Renaissance wing, in the new style of
Renaissance architecture, brought back by the kings, notably François I, returning
from his Italian campaigns in 1537. The Château de Lourmarin is the first
Renaissance castle in Provence. The Renaissance wing was
built from 1536. Lord Fouque-d’Agu decided to build
his castle in Lourmarin on the ruins of the 12th century fortress. At the time, the village was
of crucial importance, as it allowed control of the road to the valley. The castle was built in this
very strategic location, which is right at the entrance or
exit of the only passage that crosses and cuts the Luberon in its width,
which is called the Route de la Combe. And this passage is really the only one
that allows you to cross the Luberon in its width. So, a very strategic passage, very
busy with travelers and merchants. This passage had to be monitored
and from the top of the towers, you can clearly see the entrance to the road. The courtyard of the medieval part
was truly a place… You have to imagine the travelers who had
crossed this very road in the Luberon. The lord of Agu invited them
to stop and take a little rest in this courtyard. There was even
a small spring of fresh water there once. And the lord invited the travelers
to take a little rest in the courtyard, but he did not invite them
to stay too long. An inscription can still be read engraved
in a stone lintel which reads: Wood and time goes. And it’s dated 1513. Lourmarin Castle doesn’t
just serve as a resting place for travelers. In the Middle Ages, it was above
all a defensive fortress. A castle that really has
defensive architecture, very thick walls,
a rampart, a spiral staircase that turns
clockwise to prevent knights armed with their
sword in their right hand. A crenellated tower as well,
gargoyles, still Gothic architecture. This medieval part of the castle is
surprising with its style borrowed from
15th century Piedmontese architecture. It’s a very surprising architecture
for the region since we really have a… The name is Italian, it’s called Elogia. So an architecture
that can be found in the small mountain chalets in Italy
or in the Italian Piedmont, it is the result
of the Waldensian populations who came to repopulate the region after
the Great Black Death of 1348. These mountaineers had adhered to the test
of Pierre Vaudès, hence their name of Waldensians,
and they also helped in the construction of the castle,
hence this very Italian architecture in the wooden loggias. Beyond its architecture,
the Château de Lourmarin is surprising because the building has two
distinct parts, but adjoining each other. The medieval fortress called the
Old Castle and the New Castle, in other words, the Renaissance castle. There, the Renaissance
is really intertwined. In fact, it had been started to be
built in the true extension of medieval architecture. On the first floor,
there are still loopholes. And really, the plans for the castle
changed overnight to erect a Renaissance part. So really, the castle of Lourmarin,
we have two castles stuck in one since we really have this
medieval part with a defensive style and the large Renaissance part
in the new style, which is more of a pleasure castle. This new castle is full of surprises,
starting with its monumental staircase, with a double-torso vice.
From Aussade. This architectural jewel of the castle is
also a true technical feat. It is a
magnificent staircase, it is very rare. We have very few of them in our
castles in France. In any case, I don’t know
too many, even in the south of France. We have an incredible construction,
that is to say that each step is monolithic and carved
from a single block of stone. It is the same step that starts from the wall
and makes the double twist. It takes nine differently cut steps
to make the 360 degree twist. And to do the tenth,
we took the first one again and like that, we climbed the entire staircase. The
extension of the step also fits into the wall of the tower
and contributes to the elevation of the building. That is to say, the staircase, the tower
and the castle for that matter, were built at the same time
to fit each step into its location in the tower. This Renaissance part is also marked
by Italian influence, a legacy of François I’s time in Lourmarin. He passed through the region in 1537 with
his architects, notably one known as Cerlio,
who was returning from the Italian campaign where
Renaissance architecture was really beginning to take off. They came back with, we imagine,
loads of plans of castles, Italian castles. It was necessary to be fashionable and build
Renaissance castles in France as well. Blanche de Lévy-Ventador, a woman of taste,
is at the forefront of fashion. And this is reflected in the decoration
of the castle, which reflects all the influences of the Renaissance. At that time, only aesthetics mattered. We find the fashions in the castle,
at the architectural level, in the Renaissance wing,
since it is especially there that it was necessary to be fashionable, in quotation marks,
in the facade which is very rhythmic, very aesthetic, since we have three rows
of windows on three heights of windows, very rhythmic by the cornices. There are also the castle’s fireplaces, which
feature very avant-garde architecture,
since there are even Indians and Aztecs represented in the
fireplaces on the first floor. So really, yes,
the desire to be fashionable was very important during this period of construction. When you see this fireplace, in fact,
it has a double decoration. In the lower part,
we have a very classical decoration, very banal for the time,
with fluted columns which are surmounted by a Corinthian capital
and surmounted by a capital, column capital cornice assembly. We find them around windows,
around beds, around fireplaces. On the other hand, what is very original is
the extension of this column which continues with a canopic vase,
a mortuary vase which is surmounted by heads of Amerindians, Incas and Aztecs,
and which ends at the bottom with retractable claws. It’s true that Indians in the Uberon
in the 16th century were quite rare. This is most certainly the time
when the lords of Agu were pages at the king’s court,
and it was the time of the discovery of the New World,
the discovery of the Americas. Les Blanches de Lévy Vantadour was a
strong woman, a woman who was certainly very avant-garde. So the idea of representing this
discovery in the castle and having this model of fireplace must have
really appealed to her. And architects, surely,
traveled less than today, so it was less easy to check. But the architects said: Look,
this model was made for you. And in fact, we find the same
fireplace decor at the castle of Androuet du Cerceau. At the end of the 16th century,
the building changed owners. Until 1789, the castle was occupied
only by stewards who managed the estate’s lands. During the French Revolution, the Château
de Lourmarin escaped destruction. It then passed through the hands of various
owners more interested in the management of the agricultural estate
than in the building itself. The agros left to live
at the Tour d’Aigues and from that moment on, the castle
was bequeathed by will, by succession, to the Créquis of the Dix-Guerre. Many families succeeded one another,
but did not really live in or maintain the castle. At the end of the 19th century,
the Vieux castle fell into ruin. The Renaissance wing has been
transformed into a barn. It also serves as a refuge
for travelers. In 1920, the castle’s luck changed. It was to be auctioned off
to be used as a quarry, but was miraculously saved
by Robert Lorànt-Vibert, a Lyon industrialist with a degree in history
and a member of the French School in Rome. Robert Lorànt-Vibert fell under the spell of
the magnificent remains of the building. For two years, from 1921 to 1923,
he used old documents to restore the castle. The work is entrusted
to Lourdes-Marines craftsmen. He did not see the finished work. He died in 1925,
five years after buying the castle. He died in a
car accident, Viber. Despite his young age of 43, he had already
bequeathed the castle in his will to the Academy of Sciences, Belles Lettres,
Arts and Agriculture of Aix en Provence. And in his will,
he said: I give the castle to the academy in exchange for it
making it an artists’ residence. After attracting writers and painters,
the village of Lourmarin also attracted a famous DJ, Laurent Garnier,
who decided in 2012 to create the Ye Festival at the Château. Here, we are going a little off the beaten track. We leave the piano and the violins. On the forecourt of the terrace, there are
more than 1,000 people dancing to contemporary music groups and
world-famous DJs, with activity
even spilling over into the village. I like to say that the castle
lives with the times. It’s not a castle that is frozen. It has evolved over time. So, the building itself is frozen,
but what happens inside is really, we try to
always be current. Lourmarin and its castle are the perfect
example of the liveliness of French heritage. In Provence, the castles,
or sometimes what remains of them, are beautiful testimonies
to the richness of history. But he does not forget
to be part of modernity. Contemporary music,
artistic projections, contemporary exhibitions,
the châteaux of Provence live with their villagers, their visitors, and above all with their time.

De l’éperon rocheux des Baux-de-Provence aux élégances renaissantes de Lourmarin, en passant par la puissante Tour d’Aigues, la Provence raconte huit siècles de pouvoirs, de sièges et de renaissances.

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Terres longtemps indépendantes puis rattachées au royaume de France, ces forteresses dévoilent une mémoire faite de légendes, de démantèlements royaux, d’ingénieries d’eau audacieuses et de renaissances culturelles.

🏰 Les Baux-de-Provence
— Place forte médiévale contrôlant les Alpilles, légende des Mages et lignée des seigneurs des Baux.
— Ingénierie d’eau dès le XIIIᵉ siècle (citernes, filtrations), puis démantèlements ordonnés par la couronne.
— Marquisat confié aux Grimaldi, ville quasi désertée puis redécouverte au XXᵉ siècle.
— Carrières devenues pôle culturel et expositions immersives.

🛡️ La Tour d’Aigues (Vaucluse)
— Du donjon primitif à la résidence seigneuriale (Fouquet d’Agou), douves alimentées, étang et aqueduc.
— Grande métamorphose Renaissance (façades bossagées, toitures, décors) après un séjour à la cour.
— Incendies, Révolution et ruines, puis sauvegarde publique, fouilles et renaissance culturelle (spectacles, festivals).

🕍 Lourmarin (Luberon)
— Double identité: château vieux médiéval défensif et premier château Renaissance de Provence.
— Escalier monumental à double torsade, influences italiennes et décors avant-gardistes.
— Sauvé au XXᵉ siècle, légué pour accueillir des artistes; aujourd’hui expositions, concerts et vie culturelle.

Une traversée historique et sensible où l’on lit, sur la pierre, les souverainetés, les révoltes, les arts et l’ingéniosité provençale.

#provence #provencelife #Lourmarin #Aigues #castle #renaissance #moyenâge Âge
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