Forcalquier, Alpes de Haute Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France

Forcalquier is a French commune located in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Formerly capital of a flourishing county, founded in the XI century, it is now chief town of district. Forcalquier is located between the Lure mountain and the Luberon, on the edge of the Via Domitia. Its name would mean either “the source of the rock”, or, more likely, “Lime kiln”. It is a historic town built in a semi-concentric plan on the slope of a hill. The Citadel, in the center of the city, is a set of fortifications, topped by the Notre-Dame-de-Provence chapel. The picturesque old town, dating from the 13th century for some residences, is made up of alleys and narrow squares and has a rich architecture.

The motto of the small town is “Pus aut que leis Aups” (“higher than the Alps”) and the nickname “Cité comtale”. Its main monuments are the Notre Dame of Bourguet (XIII and XVII centuries), the convent of the Cordeliers (XIII century) and the Chapel of Our Lady of Provence dating from 1875 and located at the former site of the citadel from where the view dominates Haute-Provence. Forcalquier has the particularity of having “the purest sky and air in France, if not in Europe”.

Equidistant from the Rhône, the Alps and the sea, halfway between plain and mountain, meeting the Alpine world and the Mediterranean world – while receiving the last Atlantic scents – the country of Forcalquier is a middle of the Provence, and a middle Provence. It is located there at the point of equilibrium of the continual movement between Haut and Bas-Pays which gives rhythm to the history of the Provençal populations, and sees harvesters and shepherds, hawkers and laborers, day laborers and maids, descend and then ascend without respite. rhythm of the seasons, bringing also wood and cheese, and salt and fish on the way back.

History
From the end of the 2nd century. Romanization had as its essential axis the Domitian Way, the main road from Italy to Spain which crosses the country of Forcalquier diagonally. Christianization will in turn take this path, and its organization will renew the Sogionte country for more than twelve centuries, since the bishopric (double from the 11th century) of Sisteron-Forcalquier takes up its contours.

It was during this period that between the 11th and 13th centuries. the land of Forcalquier dominated the largest space in its history. In a political context where the Counts of Toulouse and those of Barcelona (also kings of Aragon and Counts of Provence), but also incidentally the Republic of Genoa and the Germanic Emperor, compete for the domination of the Occitan space, the Alps to the Pyrenees, the Counts of Forcalquier play on these rivalries to make their game out of the game, and make their city the capital of an independent state, with its sovereigns, its laws and its currency, from Mont Genèvre to the Monts de Vaucluse and from the Durance to the Col de Cabre. L’Argentière, Embrun, Gap, Sisteron, Manosque, Pertuis, Apt, Sault, Séderon or Veynes are then forcalquiérens, and even partly Isle-sur-Sorgue and Avignon.

A marriage will finally combine the counties of Forcalquier and Provence, and the two States will be reunited after 1209, however retaining a certain autonomy which will fade only gradually.

The end of the 13th century. sees the beginning of an economic and demographic crisis. It is on this ground that in 1348 the black plague strikes and settles for centuries, causing havoc from which the upper Provence will have difficulty recovering. While some of the villages that were deserted then some repopulated before the 16th century, others would have to wait until the 17th or 18th century. or even the Revolution.

Forcalquier may well no longer be the capital of Viguerie, the attractiveness of the city at the end of the Middle Ages continues to be exerted beyond the mountain of Lure: a Forcalquiéren clothier from the 14th century, whose book -journal reached us (it is moreover the oldest commercial register in France), to customers coming from Curel or Omergues.

In 1481 Provence was annexed to France, against the feelings of the Forcalquiérens. Louis XI will send them an army, which will bombard them from the top of a hill that has since been called La Bombardière.

As in the Middle Ages the Jews (Forcalquier and Reillanne have their synagogue) then the Vaudois, Protestants will be numerous in the country in the 16th century. (besides Forcalquier, Ongles has a temple).

After the Revolution, the new regime (which immediately found fervent supporters among us) allowed Forcalquier to retain part of his power and his urban functions by installing the sub-prefecture there, and by maintaining a tribunal there.

Contemporary period
With the Revolution, Forcalquier became the district capital, then sub-prefecture under the Consulate. Between 1806 and 1813, the sub-prefect Latourette had the ramparts razed, which were replaced by boulevards and avenues.

In 1851, Forcalquier and his country were among the main players in the republican revolt against the coup d’état of Napoleon III. Despite the fierce repression that followed, the city remained until the war of 1914 the intellectual and artistic capital of the high country, as well as one of the poles of the Provençal renaissance. Forcalquier remains an intellectual center. In 1867, the Literary Athenaeum was created. The Floral Games in 1872, the celebrations for the inauguration of Notre-Dame de Provence in 1875, the founding of the École des Alpes in 1876 and the international festivals of Latinity in 1882, revived great hopes.

The town was hard hit by the First World War. In WWII, Forcalquier is a Mecca of the Resistance. The Allies freed Forcalquier on August 19, 1944. The city is decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

Today, the country of Forcalquier remains remarkably articulated on its town center: one of the smallest sub-prefectures of France still hosts one of the largest markets in all of Provence, and Forcalquier, a micro-town but a true town, largely retains its role as a cultural beacon of the Provençal high country.

The sunniest sky in France allows the installation of the Haute-Provence observatory near the town, more exactly at Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire. The hydroelectric development of the Durance and the creation of the Laye reservoir renew the vitality of the country, allowing widespread irrigation of crops and a secure supply of drinking water.

The old town
According to Pierre Magnan, “Forcalquier was the most beautiful country in the world and thank God no one other than us knew about it”. Place Saint-Michel, located in the old town, is famous for its Saint-Michel fountain, classified as a historical monument. This Gothic-style fountain was erected in 1512. The current round basin replaced the original octagonal basin in 1912. The part above the drawers was redone identically in 1976. The base is famous for the curious sculpted scenes which would represent the vices that Saint Michael seeks to crush. Its construction gave rise to a real town planning operation: construction of a 3 km aqueduct (first studies in 1492, completed in 1511), a water tower and settling basins for the fountains, but also drilling a street and two places (the second fountain, known as Saint-Pierre, was replaced by the Joan of Arc fountain in 1900).

Place du Palais: the former Palais de Justice (facade of 1842) succeeded the former palace of the Counts of Forcalquier. The square was also formerly called the Granatarié (place aux grains), a name retained by the original staircase (1853) which connects it with the rue Bérenger. Saint-Pancrace and Bombardière districts, listed site; in this area, St Pancras chapel, named after the patron of the city (XVII century). Isolated on a hill, it has lost its north aisle. The path opens in front of an oratory from the same period. A hermitage is attached to the chapel. In 1733, major restorations were made to the building. The path is caladed. It is listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments. The bell tower of Saint-Pierre is a campanile built by the municipality in 1859.

Historical heritage
Les Mourres, located north of the town of Forcalquier, is a landscape of limestone rocks with a marly base thinned by erosion: the Mourres proper, followed upstream by the Petits Mourres and, downstream, the Mourreisses. All of these rocks extend over a hundred meters. The highest rocks reach a height of over twenty meters. Twenty-five million years ago, that is to say at the end of the Oligocene, the site was a marshy environment. Since then the water has completely disappeared and the landscape is made up of thorny bushes and downy oaks. In addition, some plants grow on the rocks. On the site, you can discover fossils: limnea (molluscs of(freshwater snails).

The citadel, whose management (visitor traffic, protection of remains, walking park, connection between the city and the citadel) has been entrusted to the Luberon Regional Natural Park, offers a panorama of the entire surrounding country. On this site once stood the castle of the Counts of Forcalquier. Its plateau is a listed site. Today we find the Notre-Dame de Provence chapel: in Romano-Byzantine style, it was erected from 1869 to 1875 at the initiative of Canon Terrasson and adorned with statues of angel musicians and saints of Provence. On the edge of the summit terrace, a carillon from the 1920s composed of 18 bells, allows the traditional play with fists. Ringtone: every Sunday at 11 h 30 as well as at major festivals, including the “Nadalet” for Christmas.

A development program for the citadel site has been studied. At the same time, the felling of 37 cedars, tall trees, is planned.

The cemetery is a site classified among the most beautiful in Europe: the new cemetery, created in 1835, became famous because of its lower terrace, decorated with yews trimmed from the beginning of XX century. These are cut to 4 m in height, thus creating walls of greenery cut into arcades, offering beautiful perspectives.

The importance of the numerous archaeological remains, present and presumed, in the town of Forcalquier, has led the State services to delimit archaeological protection perimeters in 5 zones within which all of the building permit application files, demolition and authorizations for installations and various works must be sent to the regional prefect.

Prehistory
The dolmens of Clau-deï-Meli (or Clos du Meli) are the oldest monuments in the town.

Military architecture
The door of the Cordeliers, the XIV century,, is the last vestige of the six gates that had the city. The gate of the citadel, dating from the previous century, also remains. It is the only remainder of the medieval fortress, known as the citadel, with a tower which still has two vaulted rooms.

There are also some vestiges of the bishops’ castle, at the top of the town, integrated into more recent constructions: tower bases, sections of walls, part of the main building.

Religious architecture
The -cathedral Notre-Dame-du-Bourguet (XIII and XVII centuries), also known as Our Lady of the Market, including the nave, chancel, transept and the bell tower date from the first years of the XIII and is the first attempt to adapt Gothic art to the Pays d’Oc. The bell is the XVI century, the aisles and the second stage of the tower are of XVII century. The bell is from 1609. The great organ, whose first stops date back to 1627 is listed as a historical monument.

The Récollets convent was installed in 1627 in the church of Saint-Pierre, one of the city’s four parishes; we can still distinguish the Roman oculus. Transformed into a prison, in 1851 the sub-prefect and the gendarmes who had rallied to Napoleon III’s coup were locked up there.

The convent of the Cordeliers (XIII century), probably founded around 1236, is one of the first foundations Franciscan in Provence. He settled in a house given by Raymond Bérenger V of Provence, Count of Forcalquier.

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Damaged during the wars of religion, poorly maintained thereafter, it collapsed, and only had two religious during the Revolution. It is sold as national property, transformed into a farm before being restored in the 1960s. The facade of the church is “buried” under the building of the old Post. There are still around the Gothic cloister (early XIV century) restored, all the monastic rooms and a secondary chapel of the XV century, an ossuary and a crypt. The oratory houses a Virgin and Child carved wood of the XV century. The convent is currently the seat of the European University of Scents and Flavors. It is registered in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments.

The Convent of the Visitation and its cloister, which served as a college: the convent and cloister date from 1634, the chapel (or church) Sant’Angelo dates it to 1687. It has a classicist façade with two orders and triangular pediment due to the Marseille architect Jean Vallier. Having withdrawn, he is replaced by Jean Vallon for the rest of the construction, vaulted with ribs and decorated with liernes and tiercerons, in the Gothic style. The convent buildings were rebuilt in 1883 to house the town hall. The church, listed in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments, is currently a cinema.

The front of the ancient temple (end of the XVI century) remains: the door is placed under a low arch, with a central station. The pediment which surmounts it bears an inscription taken from the book of Isaiah: “Co (n) spanks the Seig (neur) and invokes so (n) no (m)”. The beautiful mansion to the right temple (XVII century) was that of a large Protestant family, GASSAUD.

The priory church St. Promasse dated XII century. The convent building dates from the XIII century: in the north-east, it was converted into agricultural building early XX century).

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, old-cathedral of the XII century (historical monument). It remains of the old-cathedral Saint-Husband of the remains XII century, joined the bishop’s castle (tower of the bishop dating from XIII century).
Synagogue: supposed location, we know that in the Middle Ages Forcalquier housed a large Jewish community.

Chapels
The Church of St. John, on the southern slope of the hill: it is first of the four parishes of Forcalquier the XIII century, and was held in Notre-Dame-du-Bourguet with other parishes in 1415. it belongs to the blue penitents the XVII and XVIII centuries. It cannot be dated with certainty. It is classified as a historical monument.

Our Lady of Ferns has a vaulted apse on ribbed, dating from the XVI century. His 1746 bell was reassembled in 2013. She is also nicknamed Notre-Dame de Vie.

The Saint-Paul chapel, built on a square plan, is the vestige of a priory.

The chapel of Charity of the XVII century, was that of a convent of Augustinian, which gave way in 1720 to the hospital of Charity St. Louis.

St. Mark’s Chapel of the XVI century, rebuilt in the XVII and restored in 1994 by the Friends of rural chapels and oratories of Forcalquier. Every April 25, the women of the region made a pilgrimage to the chapel, a bag containing silkworm eggs in order to obtain protection against disease from the saint.

Civil architecture
The hotel Autane offers a beautiful facade (exceptional by Raymond Collier), with two large pointed arches (XIV century): it is registered in the inventory of historical monuments. The dwelling of the Dauphin is from the same period: arcades and twin bays.

From the following century, at least three buildings remain, a house behind the Hôtel d’Autane, a passage Roubaud, and the Jean Rey house. In freestone, with an interior courtyard and a spiral staircase, its facades are pierced with mullioned windows. There remains a door with a paneling in the form of a folded towel. She belonged to the XVI century to Jean Rey, the family of the lords of Nails. Its roof is protected by registration in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments.

The hotel Sebastiani, Rue des Cordeliers, dating from the XVII century, is distinguished by its quoins to shear walls. The beams of its vestibule are coated with plasterwork, and the cornices are also in plasterwork.

Rue Bérenger, a private house has a door with embossed and slotted piers, and surmounted by a broken pediment. Dating back to the XV and XVI centuries, enlarged at the beginning of the XVII, its vestibule has a ceiling decorated with plasterwork (the beams are coated). Former sub-prefecture until 1851, it was then used as a prison. It is listed in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments.

The Arnaud Hotel (XVII century), former Protestant church (former reformed temple), is registered in the inventory of historical monuments for its facade and the roof side street.

The Castellane-Adhémar hotel is in the Louis XIII style. A former gendarmerie, behind a partition a fireplace was discovered there, the mantle of which is adorned with plasterwork: two pilasters with moldings frame a wreath of garland, under a frieze bearing a coat of arms, all dating from between 1650 and 1700. The house of Tenda, Place Saint-Michel, belonging to the family of Tenda, has a wide front, the XVIII century.

The campaign is a Clementis style villa Palladian, from the late XVII century; the mantel of its plastered fireplace is adorned with cut sides.

The municipal museum (old furniture, Haute-Provence costumes, archeology section founded in 1919) is located on the second floor of town hall.

Utility architecture
The Latins or Viou viaduct was built in 1882-1887, for the Apt to Volx and a road. The lack of safety on the site led to the collapse of a scaffolding and the death of seven workers. Built on a curved path, 36 m high, 136 m long, it rests on seven 13 m arches. As soon as the train stopped running in 1955, in 1960 sidewalks were added. The inauguration having coincided with the feast of the Latins, the viaduct carries in dedication inscriptions written in all the Romance languages and the various Occitan dialects. It also carries a plaque in memory of all those who committed suicide there..

The bridge over the Beveron, where the national road 100 passes, dates from 1902. Built on a low arch, with a helical vault, it has a 62 ° bias. The opening of the vault is 16 m; the bridge is 5 m wide.

The fountain of the four queens consists of an obelisk in the middle of the basin, and dates from 1832.

La Bonne Fontaine: set of fountains and wash houses on an ancient site.
Joan of Arc Fountain: this fountain built in 1900, replaces the Saint-Pierre fountain built at the same time as the Saint-Michel fountain. A statue of Joan of Arc surmounts the fountain. Eugène Bernard wrote a vengeful poem in which Saint-Pierre complains of having been driven out. It is located on Place Jeanne d’Arc.
sheds sharp: dry stone huts (or Bories) made famous by the postcards in the first half of the XX century.

Cultural events and festivities
Forcalquier is the setting for several cultural and festive events throughout the year:
In April: the “Hiking Festival” takes place during the last weekend of April. About twenty hikes are organized with guides, to discover the landscapes and the rural heritage of the country of Forcalquier and the mountain of Lure. These hikes can be done on foot, on horseback, by mountain bike, day or night.
End of the fourth week of May: the “Patronal Feast of Saint Pancrace”. It is characterized by the presence of a fun fair.
Every summer, since 1989, the Rencontres musicales de Haute-Provence have been held in July, a classical music festival created at the instigation of the Queyras family, and currently artistically co-directed by the famous cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, his brother Pierre- Olivier Queyras (violinist) and their respective wives Gesine Queyras and Véronique Marin, both cellists.

Outdoor activities

Hiking and walking paths
Long walk, Nordic walk, secret walk with stunning landscapes, snow hiking in the Lure Mountain or hiking-bistro with a regional breakfast. From an hour-long hiking session with family to a challenging 7-hour hiking, everything is possible. In the heart of a preserved natural site, over 470 km marked paths await you.

The Pré du Fau – Lure Mountain
Starting at the Lure ski resort, cross the forest before setting foot at the peak of the Lure Mountain. Open up your eyes wide and praise the spectacular view on the Haute-Provence, the Alps and even the sea on the clear blue-sky days. “The practice of food harvesting territory of yesterday and today”.Get an insight into why Jean Giono wrote “Le talus qui borde la route est plus riche que l’Océanie”. No other quotation could better describe this territory where thyme, savory or santolin or the lavender fill the regional paths with fragrance.

The road of the Roman Bridge- Lure
This historic path, situated on the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle road, gives the opportunity to discover Lure, classified as: ‘the town-village with caracter’, the pathway of the Bishop leads to the Notre-Dame de Vie chapel and the antique Roman Bridge. The walks on the valley of the Durance river and the Forcalquier area, are breathtaking.

The famous path the Saint-Jacques de Compostellepasses between Céreste and Lure through Forcalquier to join Sisteron, the Alps and finally Italy. Hikers, pilgrim of one day or several weeks or just a stroller/loafer this path is for you.

Lavander road
Enjoy lavender fields only visible once in a year. In the Forcalquier area, the lavender fields are spread around many different villages. It would not be right to designate the exact places as these fields change every year depending on the farmer. Wild, next to a perched village, at the detour of a trail, you will certainly find them in the villages of Montlaux, Cruis, Saint-Etienne-les-Orgues, Ongles, Lardiers, Saint-Michel l’Observatoire, Banon, Simane la Rotonde and many more. Observe it then close your eyes, smell, listen: everything is here and nothing else exists, maybe just this delicious smell reminds you of childhood.

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