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Village of Vaucluse: Menerbes

Repair of painters and celebration of the truffle

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Village of Vaucluse: Menerbes
Small village perched in the Vaucluse, located in the Regional Natural Park of the Luberon and totally integrated in a natural and calm and wild place where it is good to live. It is this pleasant and quiet atmosphere, remote from urban problems and urban constraints, which ties so much the Menerbiens to their environment and which attracted, from all time, many anonymous visitors, artists, illustrious men, eager to absorb the authenticity and simplicity of the place and its inhabitants.

An agricultural and viticultural village with an industrial tradition linked to the extraction and working of stone, Ménerbes has a rich and diverse heritage - architectural, historical and cultural, natural and gastronomic - which gives rise to a strong potential for tourism activities. Moreover, the presence and passage of many painters and writers since the beginning of the 20th century has given the village a predominant artistic identity that continues today in the various local cultural activities.

Ménerbes also knows a very active local life with its many artisans, traders and an associative fabric strongly committed to the commune and its inhabitants. All these actors associate throughout the year for the animation of the village and the organization of quality cultural and tourist events such as:
The Market of Bread, Wine and Goat Cheese on May 11,
Concerts throughout the year,
The Festival Oenovidéo in July,
The Wine Festival of Luberon Park, on 29 July,
Outdoor cinema in July and August,
The Votive Festival in August,
Heritage Day: Visit of the Village, Saint-Hilaire Abbey,
The Santons Fair on 8 and 9 November,
The Truffle Market on 28 December.
We invite you to come and share these convivial and festive moments, to discover the wealth of our village, to take ownership of its heritage and its spaces of collective life in order to fully appreciate together the quality of life of our territory, with respect for the place.

The story of Ménerbes:

Territory inhabited since the Palaeolithic period was invaded a few centuries before our era by tribes coming from Central Europe. Vulgientes, Vordenses first, then the Ligurians, the Greeks and the Romans. Menerbes, whose name recalls that of the Roman goddess Minerva, was a stopover on the Via Domitia which linked Rome to Cadiz.
In the Middle Ages, the Germans, the Alans, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths occupied the valley of the Rhone and the Comtat.
It was at the Saint-Hilaire priory that Saint-Louis stopped on his return from the Crusades. Monks lived there until the Revolution.
General-Baron-Robert

In 1215, at the Council of Montpellier, Simon de Monfort obtained the County of Toulouse and the Comtat was attributed to the Church. Ménerbes, already fortified village, marked the southern limit of the Comtat Venaissin.
One of the great moments of the history of Ménerbes is located in the 16th century during the wars of religions.
The village abducted by surprise by the Huguenots was occupied from 1573 to 1578 and supported a seat on behalf of the Catholic troops belonging to the Pope and the King of France. The Cornille Tower was destroyed at that time.
In 1781, Count de Rantzau, captain of the King of Denmark, took refuge in Menerbes, lived in the Hotel Tingry until his death in 1789 and was buried in the garden of the Citadel.
The French Revolution provoked an upheaval and Ménerbes, like all the papal territory, was annexed in 1793.
A tourist destination par excellence, Menerbes has attracted many artists and always attracts "peaceful migrants" from all over the world.

A must see

Le Castellet (Private)
The original construction was medieval. Outpost during the siege of Ménerbes, the small castle retains the rest of the time when it was a fortress. It allowed its occupants an astonishing resistance. This residence where Nicolas de Stael lived, is still the property of his family.

Church of St Luke
The Church of Saint-Luc
The consuls and the aldermen were assembled on the forecourt of the church. It was rebuilt in the 16th century on the bases of the Saint-Sauveur church. Today, Saint-Luc is undergoing a global restoration, with the help of the State, private donors of the Ménerbes Foundation and the World Monuments Fund.

Old Cemetery
The Old Cemetery
Some families may still bury their deceased.
The key can be requested for good reasons at the town hall.

Door of Saint Sauveur
One of the two entrances to the village in the Middle Ages.

Belvedere
The Belvedere
Beautiful view of the valley of Calavon, the mountains of Vaucluse and the Ventoux on one side, stone quarries and the Grand Luberon on the other.

The Campanile
Building of the 15th century, the campanile sheltered the town hall until 1977. The two belvedere

THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE
The Hotel d'Astier de Montfaucon, built in the 17th
and in the 18th century, belongs to the town hall of Ménerbes
since 1751. It was a municipal hospice during the 19th century and a boys' school until 1953. In 1955, the building was inscribed on the supplementary inventory of Historical Monuments and rehabilitated in 2004.

A PLACE OF DISCOVERY
The Maison de la Truffe and the Wine of the Luberon is a space
knowledge of the world of truffles and wine from the great south-east.
Open every day from April 1st to October 31st
from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 14:30 to 18:00.
Out of these dates tel 04 90 72 38 37

A BONUS
The wine cellars welcome the oenotheque of the Regional Park of the Luberon gathering in a single place
all the producers of wines of this one are the appellations AOP Luberon, Ventoux and Pierrevert.

The wines will be sold at the prices of cellars or estates.

Free tastings are offered from April to October.
Possibility of dispatch by mixing the fields and the bottles at will.

THE SHOP
You will find products based on truffles and of course in season of fresh truffles (Melanosporum in winter and Aestivum in summer), an interesting bookshop of books on Provence, wine and truffle, regional products, ...
It is also possible to order your truffles by correspondence, express delivery

Restaurant la maison de la Truffe THE BAR A VIN & THE RESTAURANT
It is in our magnificent French garden that we offer you to come as soon as the beautiful days enjoy a glass in all serenity.
From 12:30 pm until 5:00 pm, our chef proposes truffle specialties (truffle tortellini, omelettes or truffle omelettes Melanosporum, ...), as well as his Isabelle apple, an amazing combination of apple and caramel truffle ...

Reservations advised by phone: 04 90 72 38 37

House Jane Eakin

The village of Ménerbes in the Luberon conceals in its heart, in one of its most picturesque streets, an enchanted house. It is a house that can be visited since November 1st according to the will of the one who lived there for nearly 40 years, the American painter Jane Eakin. She lived happily there until her death in December 2002. The walls retain the echo of her merry laugh, her cheerful and generous voice, the music she loved to listen to, especially that of her friend Isaac Stern.


It is with great emotion that you will discover the rare course of this woman who, very young, left New York to settle in Paris, then halfway of his life in Ménerbes for a simple life after that, brilliant, in two of the most beautiful capitals of the artistic world. It is in total osmosis with nature that her inspiration has found her most beautiful expression, that of a woman in agreement with herself, happy and peaceful, surrounded by friends, flowers, cats and dogs , a way to transmit to us through his works the beauty of the world and to put to the stake all his vanities.


She was born into a wealthy family and was born on October 23, 1919 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a united family. Very quickly aware of her artistic and very understanding qualities, her parents supported her in her studies at the School of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh, then in New York where she continued to train, and in Paris at the illustrious Julian Academy . It is by teaching art that his artistic life will begin. During her Parisian period, she was married to a very influential economic journalist, and despite a relatively mundane life, she discovered the desire to become a painter, to own a workshop. She will do it in the big apartment they occupied. She will lead two equally exciting lives between her studio and the receptions she will organize for her husband's career.


His friend Joe Downing liked to tell that she was receiving General de Gaulle and many political personalities of the day who could, far from the hubbub of the ministries, behold her beauty and pleasant company. She will cross the path of the painter Giorgio de Chirico, build a faithful friendship with Françoise Gilot and the famous photographer Gjon Mili will make her superb portraits. Every year, too, she and Isaac Stern go to Prades to find their friend Pablo Casals. Other activities will still enthrall her outside her studio, writing since she will publish two books, also illustrated for American magazines such as Vogue, Life, Look, Flair and many others, a film by Irwin Shaw A la française in 1962, the sets of a play The immortal Husband by James Derrill which will be presented in 1969 at the Dublin Theater Festival and finally the friendship of a lifetime with the great actress American Uta Hagen.

It is a rich life of encounters, between New York and Paris, and during those years, the one with Joe Downing and his friend Emmanuel Wardi, young neighbors of this famous couple. An unfailing, discrete and intense friendship, which will persuade her, after a painful break, to come and settle in the village of Menerbes, to be free to paint. Indeed, for some years, Joe Downing left his apartment of the Marsh to find his workshop in this savage Luberon of years 7o. That is how they will again be close neighbors.

Dozens of exhibitions have marked its journey. New York, London, Geneva, Brussels, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Lyon, Montpellier and Casablanca, where she stayed in the sixties, then in Provence, Gordes, Isle sur la Sorgue and Menerbes until the last days.

The village of Ménerbes and its Mayor, Yves Rousset-Rouard, measured the generous gesture of the artist. This "heritage", which represented a gesture of affection and recognition on his part and which, by the breadth and quality of his work, is an artistic richness that will allow everyone to nourish himself with the joy of life that was the his.
"I loved art in all its forms. I embraced life and I had the joy of having it back, "she said.
After the renovation of the site and the upgrading of the standards by the Town Hall, Jean-Pierre Borezée, scenographer, led the Jane Eakin Fund to present his works. This enchanting house is now open to all.
Website: www.jane-eakin.com

Provence Luberon Sotheby's International Realty: Your expert in luxury real estate in the Luberon and Provence.

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