Roussillon (Vaucluse)
Roussillon [ ʀusijɔ ] is a southern French commune in the department of Vaucluse in the Provence- Alpes- Côte d' Azur. It belongs to the district of the canton of Apt and Gordes. The municipality is part of the Luberon Regional Nature Park.
The small town with 1312 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) located at the foot of the Luberon Massif is one of the plus beaux villages de France ( most beautiful villages in France ) classified.
Economy
The place is known primarily for his ocher red earth, which is used as raw material for the manufacture of paints. Here already dismantled the Romans, the village vicus russulus (Red Village ) called, ocher. Roussillon was until the early 19th century, the center of the ocher degradation, which was still in operation until 1930. Today only a paint factory to visit ( Ancienne Usine Mathieu ). In addition, located on the outskirts of the Sentier des Ocres, the ocher trail.
The vineyards in the countryside of Roussillon belong to the appellation Côtes du Ventoux. More than 120,000 visitors annually and tourism today determine the lives of the community.
Coat of arms
Description: Green is In a white bar, with a red rose.
People
- Between 1942 and 1945, Samuel Beckett in Roussillon hidden before the German Wehrmacht and put the city in his play Waiting for Godot a monument.
- In 1950, the American sociologist Laurence Wylie after Roussillon and lived here for a year to study the community of the remote village. From his observations Wylie made a book with the title "Village in the Vaucluse " ( first edition 1957). In the book he named the village " Peyrane " but was meant Roussillon.
Gallery
Town hall
Archangel Michael, painting in the local church Saint -Michel
Ocher quarry at Sentier des ocres