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Origin and history

The chapel Notre-Dame-des-Vignes de Vian, located in the Popes' enclave, has its origins in the 13th century, although its major reconstruction dates from the 3rd quarter of the 15th century. First named Our Lady of the Vignes, it was administered by rectoresses (ladies of the parish) in the mid-15th century, a rare feature for the period. These two women managed the finance and maintenance of the site until the Revolution, under the control of the parish priest and local consuls. Stones re-used in the exterior walls, dated the 13th century, bear witness to the first building.

In 1492, the chapel was first named after a reconstruction. In the 17th century, Dominicans settled and built an adjacent convent, still occupied by a Dominican community since 1975. The choir, built in 1508 by André Colombet, and the bell tower (completed in 1514) illustrate its architectural evolution. The nave, damaged by a flood in 1753, was restored in 1777-1778 with a false vault and a porch redone in the twentieth century.

A place of wine pilgrimage, the chapel has been home since the 15th century to the Confrérie Saint-Vincent de Vian, which annually blesses a vine strain (the souco) during its summer chapter, perpetuating a ritual linked to the harvest. Ranked a Historical Monument in 1990, it preserves Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque elements, as well as a Latin inscription on its triumphal arch: "Posuerunt me custodem in vineis" ("They are placed as guardian of their vineyards").

The chapel was also a refuge during the epidemics: in 1629 Antoine de Piolenc, consul of Vian, made a vow there to protect the city from the plague. Its social and religious role, combining Christian traditions and wine-growing customs, makes it a symbol of Provençal heritage.

The rectoresses, chosen annually by the parish priest and their predecessors, had limited financial power (30 maximum soils without additional downstream). Their management was validated annually by the consuls and the clergy. The Brotherhood, founded in 1475, organized until the Revolution a procession to the chapel Saint Vincent (now disappeared), before transferring its rites to Notre-Dame-des-Vignes after 1978.

Architecturally, the chapel combines a vaulted nave in a cradle, an ogival choir, and an adjoining home. Its sundial (added in 1876) and porch rebuilt in 1911–27 complete its material history. A communal property, it remains a living place, mixing medieval memory and contemporary practices.

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