Circuit de l'Art Roman

Saint-André de Bagalance Romanesque chapel.

Under the pontificate of Benedict VIII, the church was consecrated, along with the Sainte Croix chapel, by Monseigneur de Solsanne, Bishop of Teanum, on November 21, 1407. Placed under the patronage of Saint John the Baptist, it took the name of Notre Dame des Grâces.It is originally a Romanesque church full hanger of the 12th century on the first two bays. It was extended a first time in the 14th century, at the time of the cardinal Grimoard, brother of Pope Urban V, by adding two Gothic bays and an apse in 1324. The porch, in the form of mantel, date from the 15th century.The Bell Tower was raised on St. Croix Chapel between 1486 and 1492. It is 21 meters high and a rise of 7 m overcomes. She kicked balls in 1794 (rebuilt in 1983), destroyed during the French Revolution. All its bells, except one, were shipped to Marseille for "weapons against the enemies of the Nation". The Bell Tower and the porch are classified historical monuments since 1921.

"Home of the Knights of Malta", known as "the House of the Knights" is the former stately home of the Marquis de Barbentane. Located opposite the Church in the middle of the fortified Center of the village, its construction dates from the beginning of the twelfth century (1133).The House is divided and sold from 1665. The northern part became the home of the Consuls and Hotel City 1670 to 1888, the southern part is occupied by families and the low Gallery is used as a Hall. The Town Hall party was strongly reworked between 1838 and 1843, only the corner tower is preserved, with a monumental sculpture of the first coat of arms of the village. The South façade, on the street Pujade, is dressed again around 1740 and treated in classic hotel. All has been restored in the year 2000.

Maison dite des "Consuls".Anciennement rattachée à la Maison des Chevaliers et datant elle aussi du début du XIIème siècle. Elle deviendra plus tard le premier hôtel de ville.

It is built on the site of a chapel erected by Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159) and dedicated to St. Peter in Chains. Construction and early expansions took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the current building being renovated in 1758 and enlarged in 1832 and 1894. The current bell tower dates back to 1932. The church is characterized by the presence of four side chapels, one of which is used for a reenactment of the Lourdes grotto.

Romanesque church.The St Denys church hides behind its 19th c. facade, a giant Roman nave and also a beautiful Gothic heart. Woodwork and paintings of Mignard (a French artist) can be seen in the lateral sides naves. One of them overhung the altar of the Brotherhood of St-Eloi. A magnificent organ which belonged to the Lumière brothers can also be admired on the balcony at the bottom of the church. The bell tower was originally a gardian whatchtower. The church, was until the French Revolution the only one «important public place» where the inhabitants could gathered. Its architecture shows the demographic evolution of the city. This place of cult, pray, refuge in wartime, was also the spot of the first Republican elections. The Chapel located in the church houses statues of the Three Marie surrended by a pictural landscape telling the main events of the Virgin.

Fortress of the Counts of Provence.On the summits of Griffon hill stands the medieval castle. It was built there for its strategic location during the 13th and 15th c. This former site of the Counts of Provence is registered as «Historical Monument». During the guided tour, you will discover castle arichitecture and the story of Benoit XIII, an extraordinary pope. The garden is an invitation for walking.

Porte des Moulins or Porte de l'Horloge.

Originally a Roman place of worship, the first Christian chapel was built in the 10th century.It occupies the site of a Roman villa located along the major Roman road linking Spain and Italy. The church is dedicated to Saint Baudile, a Roman legionnaire and deacon who was martyred in Nîmes in the year 300. The remains of an earlier building constructed in the 10th century by the bishops of Avignon, who owned the site, are still visible on the outside (at the top of the grand staircase) and inside (in the last bay under and on the platform). The current building includes several chapels added over the centuries around the nave and apse from the 12th century (classified as a Historic Monument in 1921). The building was classified as a Historic Monument in its entirety in 1999 and is open all year round. Extra information : Due to the good preservation of the building, the church square is sometimes used as a location for filming period films.

Built on the site of a Roman monument and contemporary with the château, it retains the allure of religious buildings from the 11th to 15th centuries, with its highly visible buttresses.This 13th century Romanesque church, renovated in 1874, was built with stones from the Convent of the Knights Templar. The 14th century bell tower on the cross-section has a pyramidal spire. Classical-period seigniorial chapels. Two Romanesque Corinthian capitals are re-used in the parish church. Monumental organs dating from 1956.

It dates from the 12th century and meets the characteristics of rural Romanesque chapels of Provence. The windows and front door were the South because of the violent mistral existing windows are not the original that had to be very close and the old front door can still be seen outside the Chapel, on the south wall. Coverage of the chapel was entirely made up of lauzes, the roof has been redone in the 17th century. It is built in Orgon superbly cut stone: these stones were thrusted on the Durance, and then sent to the Chapel by the path of the Devens. It served as the parish church until the 13th century when the Church current, much larger, located at the foot of the castle was built: the village moved so a few hundreds of meters.The fresco behind the altar of the chapel represents the Holy Trinity with the specific insignia of the Carthusians.Jean Girard, grandson of the last prior of the brotherhood, launched a call in 1974 to the penny: this appeal was heard and the chapel was completely restored.

This building is also attributed to the Abbots of Saint-Victor. In the 11th century, it was a simple Romanesque-style chapel which was later fortified. It contains a stunning flamboyant Gothic ciborium, a flowering art of the 15th century, of rare beauty. The church was classified as a «Historic Monument» on May 18, 1908.

Built between 989 and 1000 AD, this place of worship is one of the oldest purely Romanesque monuments in the region. It is a place of worship for the Black Penitents and is said to have been built by the monks of the Abbey of Saint Victor in Marseille. It was classified as a historical monument on November 24, 1921.

The history of this church shows the influence of Romanesque art in the region: a chapel built in 1835, then extended in 1878 in a neo-Romanesque style with a 3-sided chevet, archivolts over the arched bays and a cul-de-four.A chapel was built in 1844, and its enlargement was decided in 1878 to become the «St Louis» church, with a baroque-style pediment that gave rise to the church district. On April 9, 1855, the cross on the church square was inaugurated. Inside the church, you can admire a painting by Reynaud Levieux, a Provençal painter born in 1613 in Nîmes and died in Rome in 1699. He created numerous religious paintings, including this one discovered in the attic of the St. Louis church presbytery. After examination, the canvas was restored by Mr. De Grasset. Also known as «The Crowning with Thorns,» this painting is dated 1650 and would belong to a series of four paintings on the theme of the Passion.

Saint-Véran chapel in Orgon. Located in a private property on the Chemin de Saint-Véran.This chapel is located on private property by the side of the Chemin de Saint-Véran. The quality and perfect stone-setting of this building, most of which is in ruins, make it one of the most characteristic in Romanesque Provence. It had a single nave, with a barrel vault resting on transverse arches and built around a semi-domed apse; on each side of the entrance to the apse were rubble stones decorated with foliage with plant and geometrical designs. There was a side chapel to the south. Only the eastern side of the building, including the well-preserved apse, is still standing. Built in honour of Saint Véran, Bishop of Cavaillon, the chapel was plundered and demolished by the Saracens, then rebuilt in the 10th century. It is possible to see stones decorated with Roman sculptures which were reused for its construction; the walls also feature masonry seals, including that of Pontius, the contractor for Saint Gabriel Chapel in Tarascon. Closed to visitors.

It was built around 960 in a simple Romanesque style and originally had a Roman altar dedicated to the glory of the Earth and its fertility. The first settlement in Mollégès was organized around it, consisting mainly of shepherd huts. Today it is located within the cemetery, as the village has moved towards the site of the parish church and then the Benedictine abbey. It is a small rectangular building made of rubble stone, supported on either side by two Romanesque buttresses with a Renaissance façade. Its only source of light comes from a small window in the center above the portal. It can be admired from the outside.

It was built in 1864 on the site of a former Roman church. When it was demolished, it was discovered that the building had been built on stilts, as the soil at the time was not stable enough for heavy 12th-century Romanesque buildings.The St. Pierre-es-Liens parish church was built in 1864 on the site of a fortified Romanesque church that was demolished in 1857. During the demolition work, it was discovered that the building was built on stilts, like Venetian palaces. This proves that the ground was not stable enough at that time when the marshes were a trap for the heavy Romanesque buildings of the 12th century. The abbey convent was founded in 1208, completed in 1218 and is an important construction next.

Built around 1155, it features a pointed barrel nave and semicircular apse. Dedicated to Saint-Vérédème, a recognized Greek hermit chosen by the popes of Avignon to become bishop.Originally built in the Romanesque style, the Saint Véradème Church was later fortified, forming a keep with massive buttresses and flying buttresses supporting a walkway with battlements and machicolations. Today, only a few vestiges of the original fortifications remain. From 1842 to 1845, a bay and six chapels were added to the church. Its bell tower, consisting of two superimposed levels, pierced with four elegant Romanesque openings, is now an elegant bell tower classified as a «Historic Monument». The facade, in good condition, ,was restored in 1971. Inside, there are painted and gilded wooden statues from the 18th century, such as those of Saint Véradème, Saint Gens, and Saint Roch...

Discover St. Maxime’s church and its 11th or 12th century Provençal Romanesque nave, its apse and low north side in the Gothic style, and also the two Romanesque chapels forming a false transept. The origin of the chapel of Christ (inscribed in the inventory of historical monuments) is controversial, according to some authors it might be Paleo-Christian. Le Ruban du Patrimoine (the ribbon of Heritage) was obtained in 2003. (The aim of this competition is to highlight the work which is done to preserve the French Heritage).

This was originally known as the Chapelle des Pucelles or the Chapelle des Vierges. This chapel has, of course, paid the traditional homage to time and undergone a series of transformations which have made it even more interesting. Don't miss the relatively rudimentary bas-relief tympanum representing the theme of Adam and Eve, the serpent and the tree of life. Remarkably, the tree of life is represented by a fig tree.

The parish church, originally Romanesque (13th century), was dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem. This was replaced by Sainte-Agathe, patron saint of the village.The parish church of Romanesque origin (13th century), was dedicated to our Lady of Bethlehem. He is replaced by that of Sainte-Agathe, patron saint of the village. In the seventeenth, the menacing building ruins, began restoration work, which will be supplemented by a larger campaign in 1760 - the Church had been forbidden to worship because deemed too dangerous. One built by a master Mason of Tarascon chorus, the sacristy, the Bell Tower and two chapels (St. Agatha and Virgin).The furniture and decoration are of the nineteenth century: the most notable item is a magnificent historiated XVIITH century marble altar. Acquired in 1793, after the devastation of the Church by the Patriots, he was ranked in 1907, at the request of the parish priest of the time, supported by Mistral. It comes from the Church of the Seminary of Sainte-guard of Avignon. The altarpiece, marble white, illustrated the said episode "pilgrims of Emmaus" described in the Gospel according to St. Luke: the risen christ is on his way two pilgrims desperate by his death and fleeing from Jerusalem. They offer him hospitality without knowing who he is. It is during the meal, when he takes the bread and give it to them that they recognize. It's that last scene is represented here.The Notre-Dame chapel also houses a Black Madonna of Walnut of the XIV °, Notre-Dame-de-Grace. Invoked against cholera in 1854, it is celebrated by a procession on August 28 & 29, remembrance of the miracle that she realized then. In provencal plate located on the front of the Church: "Dins aquesto gleiso're esta bateja Fred Mistral e lou weed day of the Anounciado, its Bell, Daiano, souna per ensen angelus a e clar dou poueto inmourtau lou.""In this church was baptized Frédéric Mistral and, the day of the Annunciation", the Daillane the bell rang with the angelus and the death knell of the immortal poet."

The former gate to the town and the only remains of the old ramparts, this imposing 14th century monument is almost intact. It has a covered passageway made of medium-sized stones, with a semi-circular arch opening. The construction is crowned with a hoarding and has gabled machiolations which are purely decorative. Under the passageway, to the right, there is a fountain which is clearly fairly recent. The gate was closed from the inside by a portcullis, which has since disappeared. A staircase still provides access to the wall walk, but it was renovated fairly recently and the first steps are missing.

L'église Notre Dame de la Nativité de Marie a été reconstruite en 1848 dans sa majeure partie, à partir d'une église datant du XIème siècle (1198).L'église Notre Dame de la Nativité de Marie a été reconstruite en 1848 dans sa majeure partie, à partir d'une église datant du XIIème siècle (1198). En effet son histoire est particulière : seul le chœur, inscrit sur la liste des monuments historiques, est d'origine romane. N'hésitez pas à lever la tête pour admirer la coupole romane. Et à regarder les toiles du XVIIème et XVIIIème siècle. L'église en elle-même a été reconstruite au XIXème siècle mais le chœur est remarquable, de par son architecture. La façade est décorée dans un style néo-classique : un fronton triangulaire sur modillons à volutes souligne le haut du portail principal. Celui-ci est encadré par deux niches en plein cintre vides. Au-dessus d'une ouverture en demi-lune, vient prendre place un fronton triangulaire plus important, au tympan orné de bas-reliefs. Le chœur se compose d'un dôme à pans octogonal sur trompes ornés de motifs tétramorphes. Les enfeus sont décorés par des outils de forgeron ou d'orfèvre mais ils sont malheureusement en mauvais état. Le mur de l'abside en cul-de-four est doublé d'une colonnade : des motifs géométriques (torsades...) se dessinent sur les fûts pour le décor des chapiteaux, on a réutilisé de manière assez libre plusieurs motifs antiquisants : oves, fleurons, feuilles d'acanthe, volutes... La nef principale, néo-romane, est de facture plus sobre : une voute en berceau couvre les trois travées centrales tandis que les bas-côtés présentent un plafond sur double arêtier. Chacune des 6 chapelles latérales contient un autel de marbre blanc : tous possèdent un décor singulier mais forment un ensemble cohérent.