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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Purification de Lauris, located in the Vaucluse, finds its origins in a long local religious history. From the 5th century, after the baptism of Clovis (496), the Christianization of the countryside organized around monasteries. Two first churches, Saint Martin and Saint John, were built in Lauris. After the death of Dagobert (638), the troubles prompted the inhabitants to take refuge on the heights and to build a third church, dedicated to Saint Project, probably on the site of the future castle. Since the lords were appropriate for this place, the Laurisians built a fourth church, Saint-Julien, in the heart of the village, serving as a burial place and meeting place.

In 1486, a fifth church was built outside the ramparts, under the name of Notre-Dame-de-la-Purification, reflecting the Marian devotion of the 15th century. Piled and burned by the Huguenots in 1562, it threatens to ruin at the end of the seventeenth century. Despite the difficulties, a sixth church, larger with two sides and a choir exceeding the ramparts, was built between 1702 and 1710. Closed after the French Revolution, it lost a large part of its liturgical objects, preserving only a few paintings and artifacts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

From 1830 to 1850, the church underwent a major restoration: repair of the gate, addition of a statue of the Virgin on the facade (1854), and installation of stained glass windows. In 1857, a ironwork structure decorated the bell tower to place a clock stamp, designed by architect Sollier and made by the Mousquet brothers. The Way of the Cross, added in 1904, completes this set. Ranked a historic monument in 1990, the church is distinguished by its 18th century architecture, its four side chapels designed by the Aixois architect Vallon, and its furniture, including 17th and 19th century paintings and stained glass windows signed Fulcrand Brunet (1864).

Today, the building preserves a statue of the Virgin with Child (2.20 m, limestone) carved by Ollier in 1854, as well as a series of religious paintings, including works by John Christol (1854-1855). Its history reflects the political and religious upheavals of the region, from the Merovingian Christianization to the restorations of the 19th century, through the Wars of Religion and the Revolution.

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