Île du Levant (), sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a

French island French Island can refer to: *French Island (Victoria), in Australia *French Island, Wisconsin, in the United States * French Island No. 1 and French Island No. 2 in the Ohio River in Kentucky *French Island, an island in Ellis Pond, Oxford County, ...

in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

off the coast of the Riviera, near

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is the ...

. It is one of the four that constitute the

Îles d'Hyères The Îles d'Hyères (), also known as Îles d'Or (), are a group of four Mediterranean islands off Hyères in the Var department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific res ...

. Part of the island is occupied by the

naturist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

resort of Heliopolis and the rest is under military control.

History

Ancient history

In the early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

the deposits at Petit Avis attest to the intermittent passage of man. Then in the Iron Age, in Liserot Cove, in the 7th century BC the occupation remains transient. It becomes permanent there only from the sixth to the fifth century BC. Then, after a long period of abandonment, it was inhabited again in the 1st century BC,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and Ligurian dishes were found on the island. The island was part of the

Greek colony Greek colonization was an organised Colonies in antiquity, colonial expansion by the Archaic Greece, Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the Iron Ag ...

of Massalia (modern

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

Modern history

Monks lived on the island beginning in the 15th century; the ruins of their

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

still exist on the island. From 1861 until 1878, the island was a penitentiary for young offenders and orphans, of whom 89 died here. A plaque (located on the military part of the island) commemorates them. In 1931, Gaston and André Durville, both doctors, established Héliopolis, Europe's first naturist village, on the island. As the doctors Durville said in 1931

Geography

The island is , and located in the Gulf of Lion. About 90% of the island is reserved for a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

missile In military terminology, a missile is a missile guidance, guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously ...

test centre (the Centre d'Essais de Lancement de Missiles) which has launched numerous research and testing rockets since its establishment in 1948. The remaining 10% is open to civilians. Ile du Levant

The village was built on hillsides and is dominated by Fort Napoleon. The village has a post office, a village hall, a chapel and a police station as well as a grocery, a bakery, and two galleries. The port area houses the office of the Capitaine du Port, a clothing store and small general store. In between there is a bazaar (Le Bazar d'Héliopolis) offering food, hardware, a tabac and cafe

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

. There are a number of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, and eight restaurants (Le Gecko, La Fourmi, La Palmeraie, La Gambaro, Héliotel, Le Minimum, La Pomme d'Adam, La Bohème), all catering for naturists.

Climate

Île du Levant has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Csa''). The average annual temperature in Île du Levant is . The average annual rainfall is with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in February, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Île du Levant was on 7 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 10 February 1986.

Culture

The Bain de Diane and the Plage des Grottes (a nude beach) are reserved for naturists; nudity is formally obligatory there. Being nude is allowed (and expected) everywhere on the public area of the island, except in the immediate vicinity of the harbour. In the harbour, it is formally necessary to wear what the French jokingly call french: le minimum, The minimum, often a pareo or a

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. In conformance with the relaxed atmosphere of the island, this rule is not really enforced, but generally well observed. Inside restaurants outside the village centre, some clothing, although often flimsy, is often worn but toplessness (for women and men) is quite accepted there and ''le minimum'' considered sufficient attire; on the outside terraces, nudity is common, especially at lunchtime. At least two restaurants, La Fourmi and Heliotel, actively encourage customers to be nude, even at dinner. The island sees a number of scuba divers; these generally do not partake in the nudist lifestyle. The non-military part of the island is private property. The owners form the ''Association Syndicale Libre des Propriétaires à l'Île du Levant''. Outside Héliopolis naturist village, the other main tourist attraction is the Domaine des Arbousiers, a voluntary natural reserve of , established on 3 December 1993.Décision du Préfecture du Var, 3 December 1993. The island can be reached by boat from Hyères and from Le Lavandou. As no cars are allowed on the island (except for some four utility cars), these ferries do not take cars.

In popular culture

A 1956 film by

Werner Kunz Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Ra ...

was called ''

Isle of Levant An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * ...

'' and featured so-called "nudist camp" footage. The island is used as a setting in the Robert A. Heinlein novel '' Glory Road'' and in the Mario Reading novel ''The Music Makers''. The island was mentioned in '' Are You Being Served?'' episode "Hoorah for the Holidays" as a presumed destination for Captain Peacock's annual vacation. Miss Brahms calls it "a nudist colony" but Captain Peacock insists it's a "nature camp". The island, and a nod to its nudist history, was also featured in the French film ''Nos Futurs'' (Our Futures). It was also the setting for a short story, ''The Reluctant Nudist'', featuring

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a List of British Chinese people, British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.

' character The Saint. ''The Reluctant Nudist'' appeared in the collection published as '' The Saint Around the World'' "The Incompleat Guide to the Île du Levant", Henry N. Manney III and Russell Brockbank (illustrator), ''

Road & Track ''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York. History ''Road & Track'' (often ...

'', March 1964.

Notes

External links

Levant Island tourism

Ile du Levant official tourist informations
* https://web.archive.org/web/20151222173256/http://www.iledulevant.com.fr/en/
Ile du Levant

Ile du Levant Naturist Web Site

Map of the island
in

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and im ...

format, from the Hyères Office of Tourism {{DEFAULTSORT:Ile Du Levant Islands of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Landforms of Var (department) Naturist resorts Nude beaches Rocket launch sites

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

Naturism in France