Venasque

Venasque is a southern French village with 1172 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the Vaucluse department in the Provence- Alpes- Côte d' Azur. It belongs to the district of Carpentras and Canton Pernes- les -Fontaines.

Thanks to its architectural unity and the idyllic, small squares and fountains the village as one of the plus beaux villages de France ( most beautiful villages in France ) was classified.

Geography

The largely fortified village with its towers Tours Sarrasine is above the level of Carpentras above the Nesque on a rocky spur that descends steeply on three sides. After Carpentras in the North West is 11 km away and the Avignon TGV station to the west about 30 km.

Coat of arms

Description: In red a golden Tolosanerkreuz.

History

Venasque was a bishopric and namesake of the county venaissin. Originally, the place with the Vaucluse region belonged to the territory of the Counts of Toulouse. In the Albigensian Crusades it fell to the French crown. King Philip the Bold 1274 came the Comtat venaissin to Pope Gregory X from. Until the French Revolution ( 1791) the town was under the Holy See. As the whole region suffered Venasque among the Huguenot wars and was twice by the Protestants ( 1562 and 1564) besieged, but never captured.

In recent history, the importance of Venasque fell sharply. Had the city in 1727 nor more than 1700 inhabitants, there were only 371 in 1946 In 2007 the community numbered 1137 inhabitants again.

Attractions

Through the church of Notre -Dame, redesigned several times and from 1498 has a carved altarpiece from the 17th century and a crucifixion painting from the school of Avignon, is reached via a long corridor to the Baptistery. This unusual monument is controversial in its dating. Previously it was believed that it was probably going to the 6th century in its origin to the time of the Merovingians back. This would make it one of the oldest pre-Romanesque churches of France. However, from this early dating one is now moved away. It is an original square room, which is surmounted by a cross vault, surrounded by four apses with half-domes. Arcades resting on marble pillars with antique ( spolia ), or Merovingian capitals, divide the largely unadorned space.

Most likely, this building is not a baptistery, as was long believed, but a grave chapel. The octagonal opening in the floor would have been only then added later to justify the early dating or a differently shaped grave opening has been deliberately brought into the form of a baptismal font.