Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The commandory of the Ruou and its chapel, located in Villecroze in the Var, date back to the second half of the 12th century. This estate was given to the Templars between 1150 and 1155 by the local lords of Salernes, Entrecasteaux, Tourtour and Flayosc, including the lands of Ruou, Salgues and Singuettes. In 1157 ten lords of Flayosc also gave up land to the House of the Temple of Ruou, placed under the authority of Templar Brother Peire de Rovira, then master of the province of Provence. The command office, led by Hugues Raimond as the first commander, had fourteen brothers in 1195 and had 240 lands in the surrounding villages.

Upon the dissolution of the Order of the Temple in 1312, the goods passed to the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Partly destroyed in the 14th century, the command office was transferred to Montfort-sur-Argens and then to Saint-Jean de Marseille. In the 19th century, in 1843, the site was converted into a factory for the manufacture of tomettes and varnished trunks by Antoine Lombard Malespine, whose initials ("A.L.M.") and a tower appear on certain productions. Today, the chapel of the Templars, classified as a historical monument in 1929, and the vestiges of the commandory form a private estate not accessible to the public.

The Templar site of Villecroze is part of a landscape marked by medieval Provencal history. The nearby troglodytic caves and the 35-metre waterfall, as well as the priory of Notre-Dame-des-Anges attested since 1007, testify to a continuing religious and artisanal occupation. The chapel, always used for concerts organized by the International Academy of Music, perpetuates the memory of military orders and their architectural heritage in the region.

External links