Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Gordes Castle, perched 300 metres above sea level on a rocky hill, is a 16th century quadrilateral building combining medieval and Renaissance styles. Its north facade, austere and flanked by mâchicoulis towers, contrasts with its south facade decorated with scauguettes and crumb windows. An inner courtyard separates the two wings, while a round road surrounds the roofs, offering stunning views of the Comtat Venaissin and the Apt valley. The castle, integrated into the Luberon Regional Natural Park, was classified as a historic monument in 1931.

Mentioned in 1031 by Guillaume d'Agoult, the castle was strengthened in the 12th century to become a nobile castrum, then modified in the 14th century in the face of the threats of Raymond de Turenne and the Big Companies. Reconstructed between 1525 and 1541 by Bertrand Rambaud de Simiane, it has a dual identity: a defensive north facade and a south Renaissance facade, with a monumental fireplace dated 1541, formerly decorated with statuettes of the twelve apostles and Christ, destroyed during the Revolution.

Successive property of the Marquis of Simiane, the Dukes of Soubie and the princes of Condé, the castle escaped destruction in 1789. In the 20th century, it will house a café on the ground floor (visible in old photos), then the Vasarely museum from 1970 to 1996, before welcoming the works of Pol Mara. Today, it houses the tourist office and a museum dedicated to this Belgian artist, while preserving remarkable architectural elements such as its staircase and its large room on the first floor, 23 meters long.

The castle was also a symbol of local seigneurial power: its remote owners in the 17th and 18th centuries were content to collect their income, without any significant change. Its primitive dungeon, increased in the 14th century, and its firemouths testify to its defensive role. The round tower, registered in 1949, and the scauguettes complete a military apparatus adapted to the conflicts of the time, such as the Wars of Religion during which he resisted a siege.

Victor Vasarely, having acquired the castle in ruins for a symbolic franc in the late 1960s, restored it and installed in 1970 the first didactic museum of its foundation, inaugurated by Claude Pompidou. The museum, with 500 original works, mysteriously disappeared in 1996. The castle, a property shared between the municipality and the private, remains a major cultural place, classified among the historical monuments of Vaucluse.

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