The village of Fontaine de Vaucluse was already a popular destination in ancient times, not least for its waters. Indeed, at the foot of a superb eroded cliff, just a few hundred meters from the village, rises the most beautiful river in the département, the Sorgue de Vaucluse.
With an average flow of 630 millionm3 per year, this spring is the largest in Europe and one of the most important in the world.
Fontaine de Vaucluse, the "Vallis Clausa" that gave its name to the département, boasts many treasures, including the remains of the 16th-century Château des Evêques de Cavaillon, and the Church of Saint-Véran-Sainte-Marie a listed historic monument.
This 11th-century Romanesque Provencal church was built on the ruins of a pagan temple, and houses the tomb of Saint-Véran in its crypt.
Other treasures include a column erected in 1804 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Petrarch's birth, the Bibliothèque museum devoted to the same Petrarch, the "Appel de la Liberté" museum, the 1939-1945 history museum, and the Santon et Traditions de Provence ecomuseum, l'écomusée du Gouffre, a museum of speleology and the Norbert Casteret collection, as well as the "Vallis Clausa" paper mill, where hand papermaking was an important activity in Fontaine de Vaucluse until the mid-20th century.
Fontaine de Vaucluse, a picturesque village that will delight visitors just as it has moved writers and poets such as Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chateaubriand, Frédéric Mistral and René Char, Lamartine, Stendhal, and George Sand...
Maison de Tourisme
Residence Jean Garcin
84800 Fontaine de Vaucluse
Tel.: 04 90 20 32 22
contact@oti-islesurlasorgue.fr
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