The plague wall

On the side of the Monts de Vaucluse, this village with a rich historical past has a name that can refer to the old "quarries" that were found in the area. Another version would like Cabrières to be translated as "goat country", the origin coming from the word "Cabro", goat in Provençal. The "d'Avignon", (official version) comes from its belonging to the Comtat Venaissin and was used to differentiate this Cabrières of Cabrières-d'Aigues, also in the department of Vaucluse.

The town of Cabrières d'Avignon is very involved in the actions of energy management. With the support of the Park, it has optimized all of its consumption items. Public lighting has been changed and has made the common practice of a night off all street lights in the middle of the night. Low energy bulbs do not dazzle as much. Energy consumption has beencut in half! And these measures are actively involved in protecting the night sky.

L'église paroissiale primitive d’origine romane, dont il reste deux arcades latérales contre le mur du château, fut rasée par l’évêque de Cavaillon après les évènements de 1545. Il en fit construire une nouvelle vers la fin du XVIe s. : l’église « Saint Vincent » consacrée en 1587. Elle a été conçue en style roman avec nef centrale, bas côtés voûtés d’arêtes avec une abside semi-circulaire. Le clocher carré avec une flèche à merlet a remplacé un clocher-arcade existant en 1597.

Dating back to the 19th century, the low-fountain consists of a lock wall (basin) in a semi-octagonal shape formed with large stones hooked together. Note also the large size of the iron bucket holders. Originally, its overflow fed the washhouse which was located a little lower, which is not the case today. The latter is composed of three basins which were used for washing and rinsing. The wooden beam, in turn, was used to spin-dry the clothes.

The castle of Cabrières Avignon dates from the eleventh or twelfth century. It is a historical place that served as shelter to Vaudois in spring 1545. During the massacre of the Vaudois, the village is razed; the castle was rebuilt in the late sixteenth century. Ranked as a historical monument, this private castle can be visited only during Heritage Days in September.

A l'angle du carrefour de chemins, se niche le puits d'entrée de la galerie drainante des Barres. Cette galerie est l'une des nombreuses ''mines'' de Cabrières-d'Avignon qui drainent les eaux souterraines par gravité jusqu'aux cultures, notamment l'été. Si vous êtes attentifs, vous croiserez dans le village de nombreuses béguinettes, sorte de cabanes avec regards qui permettent de contrôler le long réseau d'eau souterrain. Certaines galeries font jusqu'à 3 m de haut et 3 km de long.

This wall of about twenty kilometers went from Monieux to Cabrières passing through Methamis, Venasque, Le Beaucet, Saumane and Lagnes. It was built in just a few months, between March and July 1721 by 500 men, masons and laborers. This sanitary barrier had watchtowers, guard-houses, food and fodder supply storehouses. The wall was guarded by a thousand men who had orders to shoot anyone crossing the wall without permission.

Two months after the docking of the ship Le Grand Saint-Antoine on May 25, 1720 in Marseille, the plague spread, reached the working-class areas of the city to then spread along the coast upto Toulon; after passing the Durance, it reached Pertuis, Cucuron and Apt. For a better protection of the Venaissin County and the State of Avignon, two papal lands, it was decided to build a wall of dry stone of about 2m high.

In August 1721, the plague was declared in Avignon, whereas apt got rid of it! The roles were now reversed: French troops are positioned on the wall to protect the Provence. After making more than 7000 victims in the Venaissin County and at least 83,000 in Provence, the disease became extinct in January 1723 and the wall was forgotten. Today registered under the Historic Monuments, it is the subject to regular restoration campaigns.

There are constructions on either side of the wall. Regularly spaced, guardhouses (semicircular huts) were used to house a sentry in the event of inclement weather and were certainly covered with a roof in branches or tiles. The huts attached to the wall, housed the units but also the equipment and provisions. On the most isolated places of the plateau, the pens served as warehouses for food and fodder for mules transporting water and provisions.

From 1723, the wall no longer had any sanitary utility and the stones were re-used for other constructions. Since 1986, a campaign of restoration and valorization is in place through the association "Pierre sèche en Vaucluse". You can see the wall here, between Cabrières-d'Avignon and Lagnes, as well as in Murs. Today, nearly 6 kilometers have been restored.

In August 1989, the fire started from the bottom of the Oule valley located a little further north, and ravaged 338ha of forest in Cabrières d'Avignon and Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. Here, some islands of cedars from the Algerian Atlas still bear the scars of that fire, but most have resisted. Others were replanted in 1991.

A limestone formation with an original topography is characterized as karstic, characterized by underground drainage which causes corrosion of the rock. Here we see a lapiaz. This surface geological formation is created by the runoff of rainwater that dissolves the rock or by cryoclasty (freezing and thawing of the water infiltrated in the rock). It is what forms this impressive rocky entablature traversed by faults and fissures.

Conifers of majestic and imposing appearance, the cedars are distinguished by their bluish or silver color. These large cedars were planted in 1860 to the north of the village and extend over five hectares on the slopes of the Monts de Vaucluse. It is an important forest species, its fine, light and aromatic wood is used in woodwork or as a framework.

Les cèdres, fiers conifères, ont leurs flèches sommitales pointées vers le ciel ou bien vers l'horizontale en forme dite « tabulaire ». Leurs graines ailées colonisatrices peuvent parcourir plus de 10 km, au gré du vent. Leurs cônes en forme de tonneau se désagrègent après le gel, puis au fil des saisons il ne reste plus qu’une « chandelle » sur les branches une fois toutes les écailles envolées ou tombés à ses pieds.

Le cèdre (Cedrus atlantica) n’est pas une essence forestière spontanée dans les Monts-de-Vaucluse. Originaire des montagnes du Maghreb (Atlas marocain et algérien), où il pousse entre 1300 et 2800 m d’altitude, il a été introduit dans les reboisements du sud de la France à partir de 1860. En Vaucluse, il a fait l’objet de très nombreuses plantations dan la plupart des massifs forestiers, dont résultent notamment les célèbres cédraies du Ventoux et du Petit Luberon. Depuis ces plantations, il se ressème spontanément et tend à envahir les garrigues et les taillis environnants.

The wild rabbit lives in colonies in burrows which forms what is called a warren. A grass eater, it can eat away the bark of young trees in winter when grass is scarce. The wild rabbit is able to reproduce 4 to 6 times per year with 3 to 8 kittens per litter, this explains its reputation as "horny bunny". Its population has declined sharply in the Luberon from diseases such as myxomatosis or VHD (Viral Hemorrhagic Disease).