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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Anges in Rustrel finds its origins on the site of a Roman fundus, a former place of worship of the Lausnavo villa. This site, mentioned in the Middle Ages as the chapel of Villevieille, was expanded in 1660 with re-use blocks, one of which bears an indecipherable inscription. It marks the site of the former villa Lausnava, property in the 2nd century of Fronton, then fortified in the Carolingian era under the name Castelli Launanicus. Ruined in 1391 by Raymond de Turenne, the chapel became an annual pilgrimage site on September 8, associated with Juec dou Borni (Jeu du Borgne).

In the 19th century, the site was linked to local steel activity: a blast furnace, built in 1836 near the chapel, exploited the iron ore of the Vaucluse Mountains until 1890. This industry, managed by controversial administrators, led to the ruin of the fortune of Pauline Jaricot, a Lyon owner concerned with the welfare of miners. The remains of the blast furnaces and the chapel, classified as a historical monument in 1986, now bear witness to this dual religious and industrial history.

The site is part of a landscape marked by ochre, exploited since Antiquity, and dominates Provencal Colorado, a geological formation eroded in various shades. The chapel, a communal property, preserves the ruins of its medieval hermitage. Its architecture combines elements from the 14th and 17th centuries, reflecting the transformations associated with its cultural use and its integration into the local heritage, between Gallo-Roman, medieval and industrial revolutionary memory.

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