Gordes By JM Rosier

Gordes (; ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The residents are known as ''Gordiens.'' The nearest big city is Avignon; smaller cities nearby include Cavaillon, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Apt.

The town is one of the most visited villages in the Luberon Regional Natural Park. It is located on the outskirts of the Park in the Monts de Vaucluse, which faces the northern slope of the Luberon mountain.

Perched on a rock, the town is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association due to its rich and varied heritage: two abbeys, a castle, many old hamlets, several hundred dry stone huts (bories), several windmills and water-mills, fountains, wash houses, and bories, a type of basin chiseled in rock.

According to the ranking of the most beautiful villages in the world published on 12 February 2023 on the website of Travel + Leisure, an American travel magazine, Gordes is considered the "most beautiful village in the world," ahead of the Japanese village of Shirakawa-go and Giethoorn in the Netherlands.

Geography

The territory of Gordes occupies some of " Les Monts de Vaucluse", a group of mountains and hills, part in the valley of the Calavon (a local river) also called the "Luberon Valley".

Neighboring communes

Neighboring villages are Venasque and Murs to the north, Joucas and Roussillon to the east, Goult, Saint-Pantaléon, Beaumettes and Oppède to the south and Cabrières-d'Avignon and Saumane-de-Vaucluse of the area with 4,804 hectares. The north is defined by the southern edge of the Vaucluse Mountains. The highest point of the commune (635 meters) is in this area, next to ''la Pouraque'' and ''les Trois Termes''. The south of the commune is the Calavon valley, also called the Luberon Valley, and a few hills in the area. The lowest height of the commune, at 111 meters, is in the south in the area called ''plan de l'Alba''.

The village itself is located in the center of the commune, on a giant calcareous rock from the Vaucluse Mountains, dominating the valley.

Geology

With a wide variation of the land, geology of the commune is divided into several distinct zones.

In the north, on the Vaucluse Mountains, are soils dating mainly from the Upper Jurassic with Urgonian limestone and calcareous clay. There are also, in very low amounts and primarily localized over the Senanque Abbey, soils dating from the Eocene/Oligocene, composed of limestone, sand, and clay.

Geology to the south of the village is more complex. The plain of Gordes (southeast) is composed of soil dating from the Quaternary (fluvial deposits, colluvium and scree) and soils of the Late Jurassic period (calcareous clay and blue marl). The hills area of "les garrigues" (in the south) is composed of soil dating from the Cretaceous – Paleocene period (calcareous sandstone, calcareous lacustrine clay, colorful, white and ocher sands and some ferruginous) and from the Miocene period (molasses limestone, sand and marl). Finally, the soil of the territory down to the plain of Calavon with some slightly higher ground dating from the Miocene and one lower from the Quaternary.

Climate

Gordes has a Mediterranean climate characterised by relatively dry summers and cool, damp winters. The city is often subject to windy weather; the strongest wind is the mistral.

In summer, high temperatures associated with a reduced amount of rain creates a drought of almost one or two months a year according to the Gaussen Index (temperatures in Celsius degrees twice higher than rains in millimeters).

History

The name "Gordes" derives from the Celtic word "Vordense". Vordense was pronounced ''Gordenses'', then ''Gordae/Gordone'', and finally ''Gòrda'' then translated into French "Gordes".

Early history

Occupation by the Roman empire. The area is full of evidence of their occupation especially the Roman road passing through Apt and Carpentras and crossing the valley. Gallo-Roman remains were found in "Bouisses" district (skeletons, amphorae, columns) or Gallo-Roman substructures in the hamlet of "les Gros".

Middle Ages and Renaissance

In the 8th century, a Benedictine abbey known as Saint-Chaffret was founded by monks of the Abbey of Saint-Chaffre in Monastier-en-Velay on the site of an ancient ''cella'' (Roman temple) destroyed during the Arab invasions.

In 1031, a castle was built and the Latin word "castrum" was added to what thus became "Castrum Gordone". The castle was re-enforced in 1123 to become a "''nobile castrum''", the only one known among the many castles nearby.

In 1148, the Sénanque Abbey was established under the patronage of Alfant, Bishop of Cavaillon, and Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona, Count of Provence, by Cistercian monks who came from Mazan Abbey in the Ardèche

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