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Origin and history

The parish church Saint-Julien-et-Sainte-Trinité de Saint-Julien, built between the late 11th and early 12th centuries, embodies the transition between primitive and classical Romanesque art. Its architecture is distinguished by a high central nave, flaked with two dissymmetric bottoms: the one of the north, vaulted dogives in the sixteenth century, and the one of the south, contemporary of the building, covered with a cradle. A false transept, formed by the span of the choir and the last spans of the collaterals, precedes an apse in cul-de-four framed by absidioles. The choir, illuminated by a square lantern, houses a 17th century golden wooden master altar and a well preserved beam of glory. The bells, dated 1726 and 1782, bear witness to its continued use throughout the centuries.

The village of Saint-Julien, perched on a hill at 576 meters above sea level, has dominated from the Middle Ages the plateaus of Haute-Provence, a territory marked by a human occupation dating back to Prehistory (Pignolet Grotte, Malavalasse oppidum). The seigneury, owned in the 12th century by Laure de Saint-Julien, whose beauty was celebrated by the troubadour Folquet of Marseilles, passed successively to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem (1312), then to the family of Castellane via the marriage of Marguerite de Trians in 1435. The church, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1925, remains a symbol of this turbulent history, linked to Roman trade routes and Provencal feudal dynamics.

In the 18th century, the improvement of security in the countryside favoured the development of agricultural hamlets around the medieval village. In 1929, the administrative centre was transferred to the hamlet of Saint-Pierre, reflecting the gradual depopulation of the perched village (77 inhabitants in 1926 compared with 593 in the plain). The building, a communal property, preserves remarkable elements such as the 12th century ramparts surrounding the enclosure, or the chapel of the Trinity, located 500 meters to the west. Its movable heritage, including bells of Ancien Régime and a baroque altar, makes it a major witness of Provencal sacred art.

The region, integrated into the Verdon Regional Natural Park, was a strategic crossroads between Riez, Rians and Saint-Maximin from ancient times. The Roman villas, the ancestors of the present hamlets, marked the trade routes, while the Ligures (tribe of the Albics) occupied the popidum of Malavalasse. The church, with its apse and apsidioles, illustrates the influence of religious orders — like the Hospitallers — and of local noble families, including the Castellanes, who shaped the territory for three centuries. Today, it dominates a landscape of forests (62.5% of the communal territory) and Mediterranean cultures (vigne, lavender, olive trees).

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