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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame des Vignères chapel, located in the hamlet of the Vigneres in Cavaillon (Vaucluse), is a Romanesque religious building dating back to the 11th century. Built near an ancient supposed cultural site (perhaps a fanum), it was redesigned in the 12th century, including the addition of a porch decorated with a sundial and an engraved axe. Its bedside and apse could date from the late 11th or early 12th century, while the vaulted nave and foothills were built in the late 12th or early 13th century. In the 13th century, the Hospitallers of Saint-Jean-de-Jérusalem, managing a passenger hospital, settled nearby.

In the 14th century, the chapel was attached to the Chartreuse of Bonpas by Pope John XXII, marking its integration into regional religious networks. Repairs and expansions took place in 1626, with the installation of side chapels and the restoration of the porch. After serving as an agricultural building in the 19th century, it was classified as a historic monument in 1982 for its remarkable architecture: cradle vaults, carved capitals, and re-use of a stele dedicated to Mercury as a master altar. Its history reflects the religious and social transformations of medieval and modern Provence.

The chapel consists of a unique nave extended by a cul-de-four choir, adorned with an arcature falling on six columns with various capitals. The south porch, arched in a cradle, preserves traces of an old opening in the middle of the pit and an engraved stone with a chrism, a sign, and a sundial. Local materials (calcary, bellows, hollow tiles) and remnants of murals in the choir testify to medieval constructive techniques. Acquired by the municipality in 1962 after being saved from the ruin, it illustrates the preservation of the Romanesque heritage in Provence.

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