Page 35 - Guide Patrimoine - Terre de Provence

33
partie d’un ensemble de travaux d’urbanisation qui coû- tait relativement cher. Du coup, les opposants au maire disaient en provençal « amé tant de frés, tant fasian aco... o tant fasian come aco... » (Avec autant de frais, aussi bien nous aurions fait ceci... ou cela...) De sorte que, par dérision, les amis du maire parlaient de cette place en la désignant comme « place des tanfasians ».
Avenue Montmajour
LAVOIR DU LAURON DES FEMMES
L’édi ce actuel restauré en 2018 par la municipalité date de 1860, mais le lieu servait déjà avant cette date de lavoir communal. Installé au débouché d’une ré- surgence d’où jaillit une eau claire et limpide qu’on appelle dans la région lauron, il permettait aux dames du village de laver le linge (la bugado).
MOLLEGES
Ce n’est qu’en 1924 avec la venue de l’électricité, que la municipalité d’alors construisit un lavoir moderne au centre du village ce qui entraîna une baisse de fréquentation de ce lavoir champêtre jusqu’à son abandon complet après la dernière guerre.
Chemin du Lauron, quartier des Paluds
LOISIRS CULTURELS
BIBLIOTHÈQUE ESPACE MANSON
151 route de St-Andiol
+33 (0)4 32 61 10 16 bibliotheque.molleges@orange.fr
MONUMENTS
ANTIC THEATRE
A Roman-inspired amphitheater from the 3rd century, depicting the life
of Romans in Provence during that time, created
by a passionate man: Mr. Jean Vargas. This lover of bull ghting, architecture,
and music began his work at home in 1980. The monument measures 40m by 32m, with a track that is 26m wide
and 31m long. The walls are decorated with bas-reliefs, moldings, sculptures, rosettes, and statues that he partially created even while being almost blind. The monument has been studied acoustically to host theater performances, concerts, ballets, and more. Free visit on Tuesday and Saturday from 10 am to 12 am on appointment.
ST-THOMAS CHAPEL
It was built around 960 in a simple Romanesque style and originally had a Roman altar dedicated to the glory of the Earth and its fertility. The rst settlement in Mollégès was organized around it, consisting mainly of shepherd huts. Today it is located within the cemetery, as the village has moved towards the site
of the parish church and then
the Benedictine abbey. It is
a small rectangular building made of rubble stone, supported on either side by two Romanesque buttresses with a Renaissance façade. Its only source of light comes from a small window in the center above the portal. It can be admired from the outside.
CISTERCIAN ABBEY
The Cistercian Abbey, known as the «Dames de Mollégès,» dates back to the 13th
century. At that time, the village prospered thanks to
its establishment. The abbey was ravaged and partially destroyed by Raymond de Turenne around 1360. At the end of the 16th century, it
was restored and forti ed. A beautiful forti ed gate and part of the rectangular enclosure remain. A walkway begins on either side of the gate, with beautiful Renaissance windows framed by uted pilasters and Ionic capitals. Each window
is topped with a triangular pediment. It became a lordly castle, the residence of the Châteauneuf-Mollégès family. Today it is called «Le Château» and is inhabited. It can be admired from the outside.
SAINT-PIERRE-ES-LIENS PARISH CHURCH
The St. Pierre-es-Liens parish church was built in
THE WASHHOUSE SQUARE
The Washhouse Square, also known as the «tanfasian» square, was built in 1924 on the square next to the castle
by the Viscount de Bon ls, mayor of Mollégès. This construction was part of a series of urbanization works that were relatively expensive. As a result, opponents of
the mayor would say in Provencal, «amé tant de frés, tant fasian aco... o tant fasian come aco...» (With so much expense, we might as well have done this... or that...).
As a result, the mayor’s friends jokingly referred to this square as the «tanfasian» square.
WASH HOUSE OF WOMEN’S LAURON
The current building, restored in 2018 by the municipality, dates back to 1860, but the site had already served as
a communal wash house before that date. Located at the outlet of a spring where clear and limpid water gushes out, which is called «lauron» in the region, it allowed the village women to wash their laundry (known as «bugado»). It was not until 1924, with
the arrival of electricity, that the then-municipality built
a modern wash house in the center of the village, which led to a decrease in the use of this rural wash house until it was completely abandoned after the last war.
1864 on the site of a forti ed Romanesque church that was demolished in 1857. During the demolition work, it was discovered that the building was built on stilts, like Venetian palaces. This proves that the ground was not stable enough at that time when the marshes were a trap for the heavy Romanesque buildings of the 12th century. The abbey convent was founded in 1208, completed in 1218 and is an important construction next to the St. Pierre church.
THE HORSE MONUMENT
It represents a draft horse,
a brother to all those who worked the fertile lands of Mollégès and helped reclaim and develop the marshes. Carved from a block of Oppède stone by Camille Soccorsi, a sculptor from Tarascon, it was inaugurated on May 7th, 1989 in the square of the washhouse.
To our knowledge, there are only two other monuments dedicated to the draft horse: one in Callac, the other in Landivisiau in Brittany, but this is the only one carved in stone.