WHERE LAND AND SKY MEET

Pierre de Valetariis, the Bishop of Carpentras and nephew of the Pope had a chapel built at the summit of the mountain at the end of the 15th century. He invited the parishioners to get closer to the heavens to pray. A century later, Joachim de Saze, Consul of Avignon, a town ravaged by the plague, reached the summit on the back of a mule and lit a candle there. The plague disappeared, and the local population, mainly farmers, decided to continue to make this ascent. Every 14 September, a large number of them used to climb the peak to pray the heavens for abundant rain after the very arid summer months. The former chapel, destroyed during the construction of the observatory, was replaced in 1936 by the one found today just below the summit.