 |
The Romanesque chapel of Saint Michel de Anesca
The viewpoint of Castelleras and the Frédéric MISTRAL monument
After the Verdon Gorges the Gorges of the Nesque are the most spectacular in Provence, one of the loveliest watercourses in the south. A grandiose, wild canyon with amazing rocks, to be seen from the road that overhangs the precipice (D.942 from Carpentras to Sault) with a succession of tunnels and viewpoints, among which is that of Castelleras, opposite the majestic Rocher du Cire.
Down in the Nesque Gorges, by the water's edge, built into the overhanging rock, above which are two other rock shelters occupied in prehistoric times, the chapel of Saint Michel de Anesca ("of the Nesque") is a small building that is interesting for its location, age (12th. C) and history. Inside is a Gallo-Roman cippus which must have served to prop up the altar in the Middle Ages.
It was completely restored in 1643, as is attested by the inscription on the central keystone of the door arch.
There are four paths leading to this place of pilgrimage (map p.21), which was still in use in the 19th. C (May 8th. and Sept. 29th.). The first leaves MONIEUX from the lake Malaval and follows alternate banks of the stream. The second, more direct, goes from the D.942, leaving from MONIEUX, 700 m before the Castelleras viewpoint. The third sets off from the same Castelleras viewpoint. The fourth starts from a point near tunnel number two.
It was in 1866, well before the making of the road that overlooks this spot that Frédéric MISTRAL discovered the Nesque Gorges and the wild hives of the Rocher du Cire, whose honey-saturated combs he set out to take at great risk to his life.
His adventures as he climbed the Rocher du Cire, related in Calandal, Canto VII, constitute a high point in this epic poem, in 12 cantos, in which the author celebrates both seaside and mountain Provence.
The monument to Frédéric MISTRAL, placed on the Castelleras viewpoint, which was specially constructed to take it, opposite the Rocher du Cire, overlooking one of the loveliest natural beauty spots in Provence, was erected by the Syndicat d'Initiative of Sault and inaugurated on September 11th. 1966.
|
Let the poet put it in his own words, as over a century ago he consecrated this major beauty spot as one of the most impressive in Provence, and let us live with him his epic, quoting briefly from the Provençal texte of Calandal :
Calandal, canto VII :
"Aquelo Nesco s'encafourno "
Dins uno coumbo arèbro e sourno ;
E vèn piéi un moumen que la roco subran
S'enarco amount qu'es pas de dire ...
Vous parle dou Roucas dou Cire :
Ni cat, ni cabro, ni satire,
N'en responde segur, jamai l'escalaran !"
This Nesque flows down into
A dark anfractuous gorge ;
To a point where suddenly the rock
Rears up in amazing fashion ...
It's the Rocher du Cire I mean :
Neither cat nor goat nor satyr,
I guarantee will ever climb it !"
The recent excavations of the Bau de l'Aubesier, at the bottom of the Gorges near the Romanesque chapel of Saint Michel de la Nesque enable one to say that the earliest hunters in the Sault Country lived in this area from the end of the Early Stone Ages, 150 000 years ago, during the whole of the Middle and Late Stone Ages, from 100 000 to 10 000 years ago. Remains of animal bones allow us to identify the different species hunted for food by our prehistoric ancestors. Among them were : rhinoceros, megaceros, aurochs, horses, deer and eland.
(1) For fuller information on the geology, hydrology, prehistory, discovery and footpaths, see "Les Gorges de la Nesque" , a book published by les Alpes de Lumière, on sale at the Tourist Office in Sault.
|
|
|
|
