Heritage trail of Moustiers

According to legend, the chapel was founded by Charlemagne. The first written mentions date back to the ninth century, under the name of Notre-Dame d’Entreroches. The current nave, in Romanesque style, is the result of a reconstruction in the twelfth century. The last two bays and the chancel date from the 14th century and were redesigned in the 16th century, as were the wooden portal and the porch covered with glazed tiles.

The fame of the chapel really began in the twelfth century, a time when miracles were said to have been observed there. The pilgrimage to Notre-Dame grew rapidly, encouraged by the Church, which granted — or sold — indulgences to the faithful. In the seventeenth century, these pilgrimages took on a singular form: stillborn children were brought there, in the hope that they would come back to life briefly — just long enough to receive baptism, a necessary condition for their salvation according to the faith of the time. Once baptized, these children were buried religiously in the nearby cemetery. This phenomenon is known as arousal. The chapels associated with this practice were called respite chapels. Notre-Dame de Beauvoir is the most famous of them in Provence.

Traditionally, the bouquet of Saint-Éloi is a piece forged by a farrier at the end of his tour of France, symbolizing his admission to the Compagnons du Devoir. A true trade sign, it bears witness to the know-how of the craftsman and pays tribute to Saint Eloi, patron saint of blacksmiths, farriers and goldsmiths. The saint can be recognized at the top of the sculpture: he holds his bishop’s crosier and especially his hammer, emblem of his role in metalwork. This bouquet marks the façade of the former Achard forge, run by a family of farriers who worked for a long time in Moustiers.

Since the twelfth century, the pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Beauvoir has attracted thousands of faithful to Moustiers. People came from all over the region to pray to the Virgin, whose miracles were widely recognized. The last portion of the path to the sanctuary ends with a steep climb. To facilitate the ascent and maintain this very busy passage, a staircase paved with pebbles was built. It is said that there are as many walks as there are days in the year. This path is bordered by small oratories.

The oldest of them, classified as a Historic Monument, dates back to the fourteenth century. It bears the coat of arms of the Blacas family, to which the star suspended between the rocks is also attributed, according to tradition. Another oratory, more massive and also of private origin, is located at a corner of the ascent. It is dedicated to Saint Joseph. The original statue having been stolen, it was replaced by 22 polychrome earthenware tiles, painted by Simone Garnier in 1950 They represent the Sovereign Virgin of Moustiers dropping golden nimbus from her hands of mercy on the heads of children born lifeless, presented by their mother, so that they could be resurrected for the time it took to receive baptism.
In 1860, twelve additional tiles were added, forming a Mount Calvary: the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross of Christ, in front of which pilgrims stopped to pray as they climbed the steps.

The district of La Bourgade, once considered “outside the city”, was mainly occupied in the nineteenth century by earthenware and pottery craftsmen. There were also the Hôtel-Dieu and the farrier, whose sign, the magnificent bouquet of Saint-Éloi, still adorns the top of the street.

The fountain and the washhouse were used both for professional activities and for the domestic needs of the inhabitants. The fountain, in cut stone, is particularly meticulous. Water was distributed abundantly thanks to three cannons. The two columns that support the roof and adorn the washhouse come from the church gallery. They were moved here in the 1960s, when the gallery was dismantled by the parish priest. It is rare to see washhouses decorated in this way, which gives this place a unique character.

The Saint-Jacques Hospital, now called Hôtel-Dieu, was the hospital of Moustiers from 1720 to 1919. Built at the foot of the access road to the chapel, its main purpose was to welcome pilgrims from all over Provence to visit the chapel. It also replaced a sickhouse that was once located at the foot of the village and which, as its name suggests, housed the sick. The hospital was run by the Sisters of Early Childhood of Digne. The latter had their own access to the water, with a bathroom located on the current site of the public toilets and the gallery of the Bourgade.

The Sainte-Brigitte chapel was associated with the Hôtel-Dieu. Its name comes from Saint Bridget of Kildare, celebrated for her skills as a healer. After the hospital closed, Simone Garnier, a ceramist from Digne who accompanied Marcel Provence in the revival of earthenware, set up her workshop in the chapel, which then took the name of Atelier Saint-François in 1947. It was in this place that she created, among other things, the decorations of the Stations of the Cross of Notre-Dame de Beauvoir in 1950.

This wall, called “apier” or bee wall, had the function of sheltering bruscs, cork hives, in the cells that dot the wall of this terrace. Although of rustic construction, a wall like this could produce a large quantity of honey. The building is located between the village and the Riou, on a slope where vegetable gardens were laid out, fed directly by the water of the Riou. The bolt holes visible in the upper part of the wall must have been fitted with a canopy to protect the hives. The small stone shelter located at the entrance is probably a honey house, a space dedicated to the harvesting of honey. A wall like this not only made it possible to group the hives in the same space, but also to trigger the bees’ foraging earlier thanks to the heat stored in the stones. It is almost impossible to date this apier, as dry stone constructions rarely bear inscriptions. Other apiers listed in the Var department are dated to the seventeenth or eighteenth century.