Roussillon (; oc, Rossilhon) is a commune in the

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.department of the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pre ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in Southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 2016 it had a population of 1,317. Roussillon lies within the borders of the Natural Regional Park of

Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...

. In the French natural regional parks system, new economic activities may be developed only if they are sustainable. It is noted for its large

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

deposits found in the clay surrounding the village. Ochres are pigments ranging from yellow and orange to red. One of the former ochre quarries can be visited via the "Sentier des Ocres" (Ochre Path), a walk of either 30 or 60 minutes through the old workings.

Geography

The village stands on an ochre ridge, situated in a broad valley with the "Monts du Vaucluse" to the north and the "Petit" Luberon to the south. The nearest railway station is in Cavaillon; the nearest

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

station is in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had ...

. The river

Calavon The Calavon (french: le Calavon, also called ''le Coulon'') is an long river in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Vaucluse ''départements'', southeastern France. Its drainage basin is . During the 18th century, increasing demand for pigments in the textile industry led to intensified mining of

s in Roussillon. Numerous quarries and ochre factories, some of which can still be seen today, were situated near the village. One example of an ochre factory, the "Usine Mathieu", is named for the family that owned it from 1870 to 1901. It has been formed into a "Conservatoire": a workshop serving as a museum. The quarries and factories were established in the villages of Roussillon, Villars, Gargas,

Rustrel Rustrel (; oc, Rustrèu) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 688. Sights This village is famous for its ochre, which many people come to vis ...

(with its ''Colorado provençal'') and Gignac. During the 20th century, mining techniques were modernized, which meant that more profitable

mines became exploitable. This resulted in a gradual closing-down of

mines in and around Roussillon. From the 1980s, tourism has replaced

industry as a source of income.Pagina over de geschiedenis van Roussillon
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Agriculture

Apart from tourism, agriculture is the commune's principal activity. Fruit, including cherries, peaches and melons are grown. Much of this is used in crystallized fruit production in nearby

Apt Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...

. Wine-making is very important and there are several

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

producing red,

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method ...

, and white wines within the Ventoux AOC.

Literary and other cultural references

The Irish-born writer

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

went into hiding from the Nazis in Roussillon during the years 1942–1945. His novel ''

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

'' was written there, and Beckett mentioned the village in his famous theatreplay '' Waiting for Godot'' (''En attendant Godot'') (1955). Film director Henri Colpi shot this movie ''Heureux qui comme Ulysse'' (1970) with Fernandel as the leading character in Roussillon;

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and a ...

wrote a

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

for the film. Under the name of Peyrane, Roussillon is the subject of Laurence Wylie, ''Village in the Vaucluse'' (first edition 1957.) Roussillon is the setting of Susan Vreeland's 2015 novel, ''Lisette's List'', about a young couple who move from Paris to Roussillon in 1937 to live with the husband's aging grandfather, an ochre miner and pigment salesman, who owns several post-impressionist paintings. The village gave its name to a Michelin-starred restaurant in London. File:Roussillon 1993.jpg, Roussillon in 1993 File:120613-Roussillon-09.jpg, The Church of Roussillon File:Roussillon 2011 01.jpg, Eglise Saint-Michel File:120613 Mont-Ventoux-Roussillon.jpg,

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest ...

seen from Roussillon File:120613-Roussillon-05.jpg, Ochre rocks in Roussillon

Geography

Agriculture

Literary and other cultural references

Demography

See also