Lourmarin

Au coeur de la Provence, à 35km d'Aix en Provence, 58km d'Avignon et 70km de Marseille, Lourmarin mérite une hâlte prolongée, pour apprécier les charmes de ce village animé tout au long de l'année mais aussi pour visiter les alentours qui regorgent de trésors.

Lourmarin, à l'entrée de la combe, se situe au pied du Luberon, montagne faite de contrastes et de lumière. Riche de passé, l'histoire de ce village demeure paisible et tranquille dans son havre de verdure où se mêlent les senteurs fortes et prenantes de la Provence.

Lourmarin is a great place to visit and stay. With its 11 restaurants of which 2 have Michelin stars, you can enjoy the Provençal dishes famous for their quality, character and unforgettable flavours. The village's cooperative wine cellar lets you taste the wines from its land.

You will also get a taste for Provençal life as you stroll through one of the most beautiful Provençal markets in the Luberon, on Friday mornings in Lourmarin.

At the same time, you can admire the typically Mediterranean architecture of the village:

* the magnificent belfry, called the "saltbox"

* the fountains, in different styles and from different periods,

* the restored Romanesque church,

* the Renaissance Château, a "Médicis Villa in Provence",

* the Temple, a listed edifice, sober, finished in 1816,

* the vintage houses with their Renaissance façades.

* Along its narrow and serpentine lanes, the village winds around the rocky outcrop of the "castelas", the belfry.

As you stroll the streets, the architecture in the village reveals its many riches: from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, from Classicism to the 19th century, the houses in Lourmarin highlight the incomparable know-how of those builders often little known to the general public.

Soaring vaults, colourful platbands, mullioned windows and timeless fountains, the builders' creativity knew no bounds.

As to anecdotes, Lourmarin has many to tell. They buzz about and offer an identity apart to this village, which has welcomed many illustrious figures: Churchill, The Queen Mother Elizabeth, General De Gaulle… and many more as you will discover...

Several famous people lived in Lourmarin, including two writers who fell under the village's charms.

Albert CAMUS (1913-1960)

Lourmarin was Albert Camus's last place of residence and where he now lies in peace. Because of this, the people of the village have wanted to preserve his memory and help, within their means, make better known his works.

That's why the Tourist Office of Lourmarin has created a Literary stroll, "In the footsteps of Albert Camus", which, through anecdotes and readings of different texts, provides a better understanding of the attachment that this writer had to the village, and which leads you on a discovery of the different spots to which the writer was particularly attached.

Henri BOSCO (1888-1976)

For the writer Henri Bosco, Lourmarin was a place of inspiration which had nourished his dreams since his childhood.

Henri Bosco wrote of Lourmarin : "…This land has has taken root in me…". Like Albert CAMUS, Henri BOSCO is buried in Lourmarin. The Tourist Office of Lourmarin has created a Literary stroll, "In the footsteps of Henri Bosco", which takes you past his favourite sites.