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Buoux

Vaucluse department
Population : 125 peoples (2005)

In the Celto-Ligurian period man already made use of the huge outcrop that would become the Buoux Fort. From the High Middle Ages this stronghold played an exceptional role in the defense of the area.

At the foot of the cliffs, nothing remains of the village of Saint-Germain, which was destroyed in the 9th century, apart from a necropolis of around 200 tombs set in the rock itself. The Carolingian altar from the lost church is now in the parish church.

At the time of the French Wars of Religion, the Fort, whose existing structure dates from the 12th to 15th centuries, soon became a place of refuge for the Vaudois who were being hunted down.

During the period of appeasement, several Protestant families settled in nearby farms, adding to them an architecture that is solid and defensive and very characteristic.

Monuments

- The Château of the Environment

The former residence of the Lords of Buoux (the Ponteves family).
A harmonious construction that is medieval in origin, was altered in the 17th century and remained unfinished at the time of the Revolution, as can be seen in the right wing, which has no roof and is apparently in ruins.
The Luberon Regional Nature Park has owned it since 1987.
The Château of Buoux welcomes school parties and groups for residential classes whose focus is to teach students about the environment and heritage discovery.
The Château also houses the Centre for the Conservation of Wild Animals and a branch of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). It is not possible to visit the Chateau.

- The church of Sainte-Marie

A promontory known as "des Escounfines" (the bounds) begins on the Claparèdes plateau above the village. A Romanesque church can be found here, dedicated to Sainte-Marie. It has been the parish church since the Middle Ages, although its isolated location appears strange today.
When today’s little agglomeration of dwellings first settled (around 1660), this place of worship satisfied the needs of the neighboring château and the dispersed rural population.
It is a pretty building (12th and 13th centuries) and has a sober architectural elegance: its roof of overlapping tiles, a bell-tower wall with two unequal bays, a single nave, a semi-cupola vaulted apse, a gateway with a finely bonded, semi-circular arch.
The altar was belatedly (17th century) mounted on a reredos with frame and inscribed dedication. Above the pier of the triumphal arch is a stone medieval inscription written in Gothic initials.
The old and new cemeteries are located next to the church. It is important to respect the silence that this haven of peace commands and to spare a thought for those in this place of rest who played a part in the daily life of the quiet village of Buoux.

- The Fort

The origins of Buoux are inscribed in the stone walls of the Aiguebrun valley. Long before today´s village existed, layers of hundreds of years of life have accumulated, one on top of another: La Baume des Peyrards, where Mousterian Man (Middle Paleolithic era) lived some sixty thousand years ago, the Bronze Age cultural site of Le Chaos, with Neolithic Claparèdes above, the Oppidium dating from the Protohistoric era; up to the cliffs and the primitive village of Saint-Germain and its cave dwellers, witnesses to the strange Late Middle Ages…

For further information about the Buoux Fort >>
Buoux Fort tel. +33 (0) 4 90 74 25 75

- The Priory of Saint-Symphorien

The first monument you notice when you arrive from Marseille by road is the soaring bell tower of the Saint-Symphorien chapel which stands out, warmly coloured by the sun, against the dark green of the slopes of the Luberon and the Roche d´Espeil. (*)
It is difficult to date the origins of the Roman Priory of Saint-Symphorien. A stone inscription that disappeared in 1962 suggested that it was founded in the 10th century.
After being long abandoned to the weather and to man, despite the fine restoration of the bell tower in the 1960s, the Priory became private property and renovation work was undertaken. The original parts of the construction (11th to 13th centuries) have been preserved. They include a campanile bell-tower and a primitive chapel.
The 12th century campanile is one of the finest Roman campaniles in Provence.

(*) F. SAUVE - Buoux, the village, the old fort, Saint-Symphorien

Activités Sportives

- L'escalade

- Rock-climbing

The Buoux cliffs are famous worldwide, and are visited each year by numerous climbers. The magnificent straight rock walls (from 30 to 120 metres high) welcome the top names in national and international Rock-climbing.

A new edition of the “Topo-guide to rock-climbing in Buoux” has been published by the Comité Départemental de Vaucluse de la Fédération Française de la Montagne et de l’Escalade.

Contacts :
- « Ecole d’escalade » - Compagnie Lézards bleus - Antoine le Ménestrel. Tel : +33 (0) 4 90 74 17 23.
Mail : lemenestrel@wanadoo.fr
- Aptitudes/ françois Lepron. Tel/fax : +33 (0) 4 90 04 68 41. Portable : +33 (0) 6 81 46 19 73. Mail : f.lepron@ffme.fr

Evénements

Useful addresses

- Mairie de Buoux
le Village
84480 Buoux
Tel. 04 90 74 36 05

- Site web de Buoux: http://www.buoux-village.com/

Site map

Access

8 km south of Apt by the road D113.

Distance from towns

Bonnieux > 7 km, Saignon > 7 km, Apt en Provence > 7 km, Sivergues > 9 km, Auribeau > 9 km, Castellet > 11 km, Lourmarin > 12 km, Lacoste > 16 km, Rustrel > 18 km, Roussillon en Provence > 18 km, Gordes > 27 km, Menerbes > 27 km, Fontaine de Vaucluse > 36 km, Isle sur la Sorgue > 37 km, Cavaillon > 38 km, Sault > 44 km, Manosque > 48 km, Forcalquier > 49 km, Avignon airport > 49 km, Aix en Provence > 52 km, Avignon TGV > 56 km, Avignon > 58 km, Saint Remy de Provence > 64 km, Marseille > 81 km, Marseille Provence airport > 81 km, Pont du Gard > 83 km, Arles > 96 km, Nimes > 106 km, Saint Tropez > 188 km, Cannes > 200 km, Nice > 235 km