La Tour d’Aigues

A must-see in the Pays d’Aigues region

Primarily an agricultural town, La Tour d’Aigues is surrounded by vast cultivated plains and hillsides of vineyards that produce renowned wine. Bathed in 300 days of sunshine each year, La Tour d’Aigues is the perfect place to stay and explore the whole of Luberon. Set off to explore its old village, and above all its magnificent Renaissance château, listed as a Historic Monument since 1984, which is also home to the Tourist Office Sud Luberon Tourisme!

History of La Tour d’Aigues

Two Neolithic sites have been excavated within the town. The site at Rougas yielded axes and adzes, while the one at Gassaude, in addition to similar stone tools, produced a bronze axe. This limited prehistoric presence was confirmed during Roman colonisation. Only a white marble votive altar, dedicated to Mars Belado, attests to the presence of a place of worship.

The Château of La Tour d’Aigues

A Renaissance masterpiece in Provence, the Château of La Tour d’Aigues stands at the foot of the Luberon hills. Its design, inspired by the grandest châteaux of Ile de France (Le Louvre, Ecouen, Anet), and the elegant proportions of its façades are well worth lingering over. Imagine the bygone splendour of this building as you wander through its courtyard.

At the origin of the château, the powerful counts of Forcalquier owned a fortification on a hilltop overlooking the Èze valley, keeping watch over the roads and tracks linking Aix-en-Provence, the fertile plain of Pertuis in the valley of the Durance River, the Luberon and the Alps. Sheltered by this ‘Tower’, granted as a fief to the Viscount of Avignon, the village gradually took shape. Of this first ‘château’, located several dozen metres from the one we see today, nothing remains. Only a street marking out the area known as the ‘Château Vieux’ keeps its memory alive. Unable to expand, hemmed in between the edge of the cliff and the village, this first fortification was abandoned in favour of a new structure built outside the residential enclosure.

From 1420 onwards, the fief passed to the powerful Agoult family: Fouquet d’Agoult, Count of Sault, chamberlain and advisor to Roi René, becomes lord of La Tour d’Aigues. Wealthy and influential, he undertook major works and created a true château around the original keep. This keep, which has been preserved, once had a much more military appearance than it does today. Imagine it without the large windows on the façade and without the decorative features. The manor house of Foulque was shaped as an irregular quadrilateral, built around this keep, with a round tower at each corner. Two of these towers can still be seen, those at the north-east and north-west corners at the rear of the building (they were later clad in a ‘Renaissance’ style facing).

This château was only slightly smaller than the one we see today: its façade stood a few metres behind the current one, as evidenced by the remains that can still be seen when visiting the cellars of the building. It was surrounded by a moat on three sides, with the fourth naturally protected by the cliff overlooking the Eze valley. These moats were supplied with water thanks to the vast hydraulic works carried out by Foulque d’Agoult on the territory of his barony, which brought together several villages of what would later be known, from the 15th century onwards, as the ‘Vallée d’Aigues’. These developments made it possible to bring water from the springs at the foot of the Luberon all the way to the château via two lakes, including that of La Bonde, which still exists today.

From 1550 onwards, Baron Jean-Louis-Nicolas completely transformed his château. Indeed, this young lord spent part of his youth in Île-de-France, serving the renowned Montmorency family, and he returned with plans to modernise and beautify his Provençal residence: this is how the ‘Renaissance’ château came to be. The entire southern section of the medieval building was demolished to make way for a magnificent façade, where we can still admire today the two corner pavilions and the triumphant entrance portal.

The château is one of the finest examples of Renaissance art in Provence. In 1579, it welcomed a visit from Catherine de Médicis. From 1598 onwards, the keep was topped with a vast dome and lantern, clearly visible in old engravings but now lost to time. The end of the 18th century proved disastrous for the château. In 1780, an accidental fire devastated the north wing of the building, causing extensive damage. The reconstruction work was still unfinished when the Revolution broke out. On 14 September 1792, a group of revolutionaries attacked the building: the last baron, Jean-Baptiste-Jérôme de Bruny, was absent, but his château was looted and set ablaze, burning for five days.

Notre Dame de Romegas Church

Romegas comes from the Latin ‘rumex’, meaning ‘invasive herbaceous plant’. It was mentioned in texts since 1096, but nothing remains from that period. The church choir, the area reserved for members of the clergy, faces east towards Jerusalem. The three stained-glass windows depict the symbol of the Trinity.

Sights & Heritage of La Tour d’Aigues

Town Hall

The entrance, formed by a large vaulted archway, leads to an enclosed courtyard: this is a former cloister within a priory, which once served as accommodation for five canons. The priory was sold as national property in 1791, the year the Town Hall was established there. Today, all the buildings are used by the Town Hall on the right-hand side and as accommodation for the priest on the left. In the past, the Church and the priory stood outside the village, but as it expanded, they became part of it.

Rue d’Eole

‘Eole’ refers to the Greek god of the wind. This name seems fitting, as it is a breezy street. But in fact, this is a distortion of the Provençal word ‘Oulo’, meaning cooking pots, as this was once the street of the potters’ studios.

What to do in La Tour d’Aigues ?

The Tourist Office Sud Luberon Tourisme, located in the Château, is undoubtedly the best place to gather valuable information for your stay in La Tour d’Aigues. Here you will find all the information you need to make your stay in South Luberon a time filled with events, activities and visits, all in a relaxed atmosphere. A visit to the château is a must; no stay in La Tour d’Aigues would be complete without it. The château’s courtyard invites you to contemplate its ruins, with information panels guiding you through the buildings as they evolved over the centuries.

La Tour d’Aigues is also home to a number of artists and craftspeople working with ceramics, such as Caroline Paul, a ceramic artisan trained in Quebec, who enjoys playful combinations and draws inspiration from everyday objects in her exploration of textures and forms, or the Ceramic Studio of Muriel Lacaze, offering a range of colourful, modern and original ceramic pieces. For thrill-seekers, a superb treetop adventure course awaits you in the heights of the trees at Forest Sensation.

Market days and local flavours

The weekly market takes place every Tuesday on the Place du Château. It is lively and vibrant, spilling out in season into the streets surrounding the square to become one of the largest markets in South Luberon. This is the perfect opportunity to savour the delicious Provençal flavours and products of the Luberon, offered by restaurants such as the Brasserie du Château, with its lovely terrace for a coffee.

Local producers are also on hand with Luberon Paysan, a collective outlet offering local products through short supply chains. At the shop À l’Ombre de l’Olivier, Rémi will guide you in choosing the finest olive oils from the region, and you will also find a delicatessen offering a wide selection of tapenades, pâtés and preserves, as well as cosmetic products. When it comes to sweet treats, La Tour d’Aigues is certainly not lacking, thanks to its chocolatier Elisabeth from the shop and studio Amande, Olive et Chocolat. The chocolates and confectionery are crafted by hand using carefully selected ingredients chosen for their origin and quality, a real treat! For lovers of fine wines, the cellars of the estates La Dorgonne, Domaine Le Novi, Terres Valdèze and Marrenon will be delighted to introduce you to their vintages and cuvées!