Allemagne-en-Provence

Overview

A commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04), arrondissement of Forcalquier, canton of Valensole, part of the Durance-Luberon-Verdon Agglomération. INSEE code 04004, postal code 04500.

Where to stay in Allemagne-en-Provence

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What to see, what to do

Castle of Allemagne-en-Provence

The village's principal monument. Listed as a Monument historique by decree of 2 September 1986 (Mérimée database PA00080348, cadastral reference C 382, privately owned). The building combines a medieval part to the east, dominated by a keep whose main construction campaign dates from the last quarter of the 14th century (around 1380), and a Renaissance residential range built in the 16th century by the Castellane-Allemagne family, completed around the middle of the century. Inside, a state room preserves a monumental gypsum-plaster (gypserie) chimneypiece dated 1546, framed by full-length figures; the building is rich in gypserie work. The castle is open to visitors (guided tour of about 1 hour) and displays a collection of ceramics from the Principality of Monaco. The park, planted with plane trees, limes, horse chestnuts and cypresses, has been a listed site since 1942. The fortified summit was heavily restored in the late 19th century.

Parish church of Saint-Marc

Dedicated to Saint Mark the Evangelist. A church of this name existed as early as the 13th century; the bell tower and the choir date from that Romanesque period. The visible building is no earlier than 1550: a Romanesque north nave remodelled in the 17th century, a more recent south nave, a façade rebuilt in the 19th century, and a flat east end. It houses 17th-century paintings (a Rosary with the fifteen mysteries of the Virgin, an Annunciation) and a tabernacle partly dating from the 15th century.

Chapel of Saint-Marc

A pilgrimage chapel built on the Vaugiscle spur, which rises more than 110 m above the village. The building has gone through at least four successive states. Traditional pilgrimage on 25 April (Saint-Marc).

Medieval castle mottes

Three mottes bear witness to the early castral occupation of the area: the motte de la Moutte (fortified in the 9th–10th centuries with two dwelling buildings, burnt down shortly before the year 1000), the motte Notre-Dame and the motte Saint-Marc. The castle of Castellet, a second medieval fortress, was built in the 12th century and then ruined in the early 15th century.

Maison des produits du terroir (house of local produce)

A space founded by around thirty local farmers and craftspeople, showcasing olive oil, jams, honey, biscuits, goat's cheese, lavender essence and artisanal products (faience, pottery, santons, cutlery).

Roman remains at Puberclaire

The remains of a Roman-era building were uncovered in the hamlet of Puberclaire in 1983.

History of Allemagne-en-Provence

The name Allemagne (the old form Alamania, recorded in 1182) is linked to the Alamanni people: it is thought to preserve the memory of a colony or military post of this people, settled before the great invasions. The site appears as early as 429 in the chronology of Lérins, and Roman remains survive at Puberclaire. Around the year 1000, two castles (le Castellet and la Moutte) commanded the territory. From the 13th to the 15th century, Allemagne belonged to the powerful Castellane family: in 1218, the marriage of Agnès Sarda to Boniface IV de Castellane was accompanied by franchises granted to the villagers, and a barony of Allemagne was established around 1280. In 1440, the barony was detached from the Castellane lands and granted to the eldest son, Antoine. In the Renaissance, Boniface X de Castellane built the castle's new residential wing (logis). The Wars of Religion left a harsh mark on the place: the baron Nicolas Mas-Castellane, a Protestant leader, died during the siege of the castle by the Catholic League troops of Hubert de Vins in 1586, after several days of resistance. In 1718, Jean-Baptiste de Varages acquired the barony. The second half of the 18th century and the early 19th saw the flourishing of a faience works imitating that of Moustiers. In 1851, the commune took part in the resistance to Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's coup d'état: several inhabitants were brought before a mixed commission and sentenced to deportation to Algeria. In the 20th century, a distillery for perfume plants was built in 1930 by the cooperative; vine growing, long widespread, has been abandoned.

Events & highlights

Saint-Marc pilgrimage — 25 April

A pilgrimage to the chapel of Saint-Marc, on the heights of the Vaugiscle.