Roaix

Roaix is a commune with 647 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Vaucluse and the Provence- Alpes- Côte d' Azur.

Geography

Roaix is located about five kilometers west of Vaison -la- Romaine, on the north bank of the Ouvèze and northwest of the dentelles de Montmirail. Other surrounding communities adjacent to Vaison are Séguret, Rasteau and Buisson. Nearest large towns are Valréas in the north (16 km), in southwestern Orange (20 km) and Bollène in the west ( 21 km).

Traffic

The church is striped in the northeast of the departmental road D20, which leads coming from Vaison -la -Romaine in the direction Buisson. From this the D975 go southwest through the town center leading to Orange and the D88 south to Séguret from.

A few kilometers north-west of Roaix is the small airfield Valréas - Visan.

History

The area of Roaix was settled since Neolithic times. The at that time living here Neolithic | Neolithic ] [ buried the dead at one point, later, the Templars built a Commandery of the millennia. After colonization by the Vocontier stayed for four centuries, visitors from Rome present. Before the Templars settled, Roaix was a simple land owned by the Bishop of Vaison. The Commandery was in 1138, shortly after the founding of Richerenches created. The Bishop of Vaison approved the construction of a church and a cemetery. The Commandery Roaix, which was also Villedieu was attached, was considered one of the most important commanderies in the region. After the dissolution of the Knights Templar Roaix went into the possession of the Papal States and was administered to the incorporation of the Comtat venaissin to France in 1791 by several small landowners ( including the family De Vaes ).

Population Development

Attractions

The new parish church located in the village, near the castle and replaced an older building in 1735. The special feature of the church is that it was built directly on the ground without a foundation, and that its apse oriented unlike other churches not to the east but to the west.

The castle was probably built in the twelfth century. Since the Middle Ages and the Revolution several landlords, such as family De Vaes have lived here. Renovated 1936 building is now private property and is surrounded by a magnificent ornamental park.

The remains of the Templar buildings are on the road to Villedieu, far from the village in the district Crottes. The entire complex has been built on a former place of worship. Get is only the Templar chapel named Notre- Dame-des- Crottes, κρύπτη after the Greek word which means " cave " means. The chapel has a simple einjochiges nave and an apse, whose cornice is decorated with carved corbels. The beautiful chapel was abandoned in favor of the present parish church in the village of Roaix.

Not far away lies the old Templer house with several round-arched vaulted subterranean caves. In the courtyard of the house there is a fountain in front of the altar, a marble table stands, with leaves and a dove. The altar dates back to the sixth century.

On the hill of Granges Hautes- emerged after the plague of 1629 a chapel of Saint -Roch. From the built in 1932 and almost completely destroyed the water tower are still some remains available.

Tourism

Through the village Roaix of the 166 km long distance hiking trail GR 4, which also runs through the neighboring communities Séguret and Rasteau runs.