In the surrounding countryside, Thouzon Hill, two kilometres from Le Thor and occupied since Neolithic times, rises above the plain. At the top of the hill, the ruins of the fortified Benedictine priory of Thouzon, often called the “Château de Thouzon” still stand and includes two Romanesque chapels dedicated to St. Mary and St. Peter. From this vantage point there is an exceptional view of the Monts de Vaucluse and Mont Ventoux. At the foot of the hill, discover the fabulous Thouzon caves, discovered in 1902, the only horizontal network in the area — most subterranean passages here are vertical. They are specially adapted for tourist visits.
The Parc des Estourans is the place to learn about the Canal du Moulin, now commonly called the “Sorgue des Moulins”, this canal was dug in 1404 to supply Le Thor with water. It starts at Notre Dame and irrigates land between the canal and the grand Sorgue, which it connects to on the South-Eastern side of the Château de Courtet.
Where the park is today, and until not so long ago, the mill still stood, providing drinking water to Le Thor via the water tower which is still in place. It wasn't until 1922 that the water pipe network was installed at St Roch on the road to Velleron.
http://www.oti-delasorgue.co.uk

Château de Thouzon

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The Sade Family Château: 
This stunning building towers over the village, the Sorgues plain, Luberon and Alpilles in the distance. The 12th century fortified château of Saumane de Vaucluse was transformed into a veritable bastion in the 15th century. Its mazelike architecture was added to during various periods and you’ll find secret corridors and dungeons which surely sparked the young Marquis de Sade’s imagination.
Donatien Alphonse François de Sadz, a.k.a. the Marquis de Sade, lived in this château from the age of 5 to 10. 
There are other fascinating parts of the château: a dining room with a twin calotte-shaped vaulted ceiling whose acoustics are such that a person standing in one corner can hear what someone in the opposite corner is whispering. According to an agreement between Monsieur de Sade and his farmer, mass on Saturdays and midnight mass were taken in the untouched little Sainte Rose Chapel...
The château’s Orangeraie is adorned with sculpted lion’s heads. The building is still stunning despite undergoing renovation on several occasions to suit the period and the lords’ wishes. It still has its medieval soul, Renaissance charm and 18th century imagination. 
The château remained in the Sade Family until 1868 when it was sold to the Mayor of Saumane then bought by the Croset Family in 1872. Vaucluse Council bought it in 1982 and entrusted it to the Communauté de Communes du Pays des Sorgues et des Monts de Vaucluse on a 40 year lease.
http://www.oti-delasorgue.co.uk/detail/70b48e5f2d51dd1b78508e13a59a52f4/329277

Château de Saumane

The Palais des Papes is an historical palace located in Avignon, southern France. It is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. Once a fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. Six papal conclaves were held in the Palais, leading to the elections of Benedict XII in 1334, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Antipope Benedict XIII in 1394.
Description
The Palais is actually two joined buildings: the old palais of Benedict XII, which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, and the new palais of Clement VI, the most extravagant of the Avignon popes. Together they form the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages, it is also one of the best examples of the International Gothic architectural style. The construction design was the work of two of France’s best architects, Pierre Peysson and Jean du Louvres and the lavish ornamentation was the work of two of the best students of the School of Siena (Italy), Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti.
In addition, the papal library housed in the Palais (the largest in Europe at the time with over 2,000 volumes), attracted a group of clerics passionate in the study of "belle-lettres", amongst them the founder of Humanism, Petrarch. At the same time, composers, singers and musicians were drawn to the Great Chapel of the Palais. It was there that Clement VI appreciated the Mass of Notre-Dame of Guillaume de Machaut, there that Philippe de Vitry at the pope’s invitation presented his Ars Nova and there that Johannes Ciconia came to study.
Due to its immense size, the Palais was also the place where the general organisation of the Church began to change. It facilitated the centralisation of services and the adaptation of operations in order to suit the needs of the papacy, creating a truly central administration for the Church. The manpower of the Curia (Church administration), while 200 at the end of the 13th century, surpassed 300 at the beginning of the 14th century and reached 500 people in 1316. To this were added over 1,000 lay officials working within the Palais.
Despite this, the Palais became obsolete when the papacy found it necessary to return to Rome. The hope of reuniting Latin and Orthodox Christians, along with the achievement of peace in the Papal States in Italy, made the case of returning stronger. Added to that was the strong conviction of both Urban V and Gregory XI that the seat of the papacy could only be the tomb of St Peter. Despite strong opposition from the Court of France and the College of Cardinals, both popes found the means to return to Rome, the first, on 30 April 1362, the second on 13 September 1370. This time, the return was absolute.
In the following centuries, the Palais lost all of its former glory, despite it serving as the seat of two anti-popes and many cardinals. It retained, however, a “work of destruction” aspect that French poets and writers such as Charles Forbes René de Montalembert have referred to over the centuries, with its powerful sense of beauty, simplicity, grandeur and immortality.
Since 1995, the Palais des Papes has been classified, along with the historic center of Avignon, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under cultural criteria i, ii and iv.
History
The Palais construction began in AD 1252. Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309, when the Gascon Bertrand de Goth, as Pope Clement V, unwilling to face the violent chaos of Rome after his election (1305), moved the Papal Curia to Avignon, a period known as the Avignon Papacy. Clement lived as a guest in the Dominican monastery at Avignon, and his successor Pope John XXII set up a magnificent establishment there, but the reconstruction of the old bishops' palace was begun in earnest by Pope Benedict XII (1334–42) and continued by his successors to 1364. The site, on a natural rocky outcrop at the northern edge of Avignon, overlooking the river Rhône, was that of the old episcopal palace of the bishops of Avignon. The Palais was built in two principal phases with two distinct segments, known as the Palais Vieux (Old Palace) and Palais Neuf (New Palace). By the time of its completion, it occupied an area of 11,000 m2 (118,403 sq ft). The building was enormously expensive, consuming much of the papacy's income during its construction.
The Palais Vieux was constructed by the architect Pierre Poisson of Mirepoix at the instruction of Pope Benedict XII. The austere Benedict had the original episcopal palace razed and replaced with a much larger building centred on a cloister, heavily fortified against attackers. Its four wings are flanked with high towers.
Under Popes Clement VI, Innocent VI and Urban V, the building was expanded to form what is now known as the Palais Neuf. An architect, Jean de Louvres, was commissioned by Clement VI to build a new tower and adjoining buildings, including a 52 m long Grand Chapel to serve as the location for papal acts of worship. Two more towers were built under Innocent VI. Urban V completed the main courtyard (known as the Court d'Honneur) with further buildings enclosing it. The interior of the building was sumptuously decorated with frescos, tapestries, paintings, sculptures and wooden ceilings.
The popes departed Avignon in 1377, returning to Rome, but this prompted the Papal Schism during which time the antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII made Avignon their home until 1403. The latter was imprisoned in the Palais for five years after being besieged in 1398 when the army of Geoffrey Boucicaut occupied Avignon. The building remained in the hands of antipapal forces for some years – it was besieged from 1410 to 1411 – but was returned to the authority of papal legates in 1433.
Although the Palais remained under papal control (along with the surrounding city and Comtat Venaissin) for over 350 years afterwards, it gradually deteriorated despite a restoration in 1516. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 it was already in a bad state when it was seized and sacked by revolutionary forces. In 1791 it became the scene of a massacre of counter-revolutionaries, whose bodies were thrown into the Tour des Latrines in the Palais Vieux.
The Palais was subsequently taken over by the Napoleonic French state for use as a military barracks and prison. Although it was further damaged by the military occupation, especially under the anti-clerical Third Republic, when the remaining interior woodwork was cleared away for use of the structure as a stables – the frescos were covered over and largely destroyed – this ensured the shell of the building's physical survival. It was vacated in only 1906, when it became a national museum. It has been under virtually constant restoration ever since.
Charles Dickens describes a tour around this building in his book:Pictures from Italy. His guide he describes as a she-devil with flashing black eyes who glories in the gory past when the building was used as a torture chamber. 
Present
The Palais is today a palace of culture and primarily a tourist attraction, attracting around 650,000 visitors per annum, putting it regularly in the top ten most visited attractions in France. It also houses a large convention centre and the archives of the département of Vaucluse, which include a research centre on the papacy of Avignon, organised jointly by the École française de Rome and the institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes.
With its size, architecture and historical significance, the Palais regularly serves as an exhibition centre. The first major exhibition was initiated by René Char and in the Grand Chapel between 27 and 30 June 1947. Entitled "Exposition de peintures et sculptures contemporaines" (Exposition of contemporary painters and sculptors), it was the starting point for what would later become the Festival d'Avignon.
The courtyard of the Palais des Papes is a central performance location during the Festival d'Avignon In, which holds every year in July. It is also the site of many cultural and economic events (exhibitions, shows, conventions...)
The Palais is also home to the International Congress Centre which was established in 1976 and today hosts a large number of events annually. These include congresses, parliaments, symposia, reunions and other gatherings, with the largest room, the 'Grande Audience', able to hold up to 700 guests.
Architecture
With 15,000 m2 (161,458 sq. ft.) of floor space, the Palais is the largest Gothic palace in all of Europe and, due to its many architectural merits, one of the most important in the world. These merits were highlighted by Viollet-le-Duc, author of “Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle” (Dictionary of French Architecture in from the 11th to 16th Centuries), who referred extensively to the Palais, including the thickness and height of its towers, the strength of its crenelated walls, the use of arcs for support on its façades and its ability to withstand heavy and drawn-out sieges.
Clément VI studium, also called "la chambre du cerf"
The studium, or private study of Clement VI, is commonly called the chambre du cerf (room of the deer), on account of the justly-celebrated 14th-century frescoes, depicting courtly hunting scenes, that decorate the walls and vaults. The subject matter, while common in contemporary secular art, is as unexpected in a room supposedly dedicated to study, as it is for a room in a papal apartment. The frescoes were probably painted by French artists, who were either highly influenced by Sienese art, or assisted by Simone Martini and/or Matteo Giovanetti, both of whom served as Clement's court painter.
The Great Tinel
This room was used primarily as a reception room. Covered with tapestries on starry blue background, there is actually nothing left of these sets. Indeed, a fire destroyed the palace in the 14th century: many parts have been restored or rebuilt.
During conclaves, it is in this room that the cardinals met to elect a new pope. For the occasion, the room was walled and only a small opening was left open to provide all the necessary food. After each conclave, the walls were destroyed, revealing a vaulted room opening to the rest of the palace.
The chapels
Saint-Martial chapel
Located on the second level of the Saint-Jean tower, the Saint-Martial chapel relates through painting the main parts of Saint Martial's life. Matteo Giovanetti worked there in 1344 and 1345. The reading direction of the painting should be made from top to bottom.
Saint-Jean chapel
From 1347 to 1348, Matteo Giovannetti was in charge of the Saint-Jean chapel, located under the Saint-Martial chapel.
This chapel is closed to the public as it is being renovated.
Art exhibitions at the Palais des Papes
The Palais des Papes regularly hosts art exhibitions. The tradition began in 1947, when the art critic Christian Zervos and the poet René Char organised an exhibition of the likes of Matisse, Picasso, Braque and Mondrian. The exhibitions shown since then include two exhibitions of Picasso (in 1970 and 1973), the comprehensive 2000 exhibition “La beauté in fabula” and, more recently, the exhibition “Les Papesses” (2013) and single exhibitions of Miquel Barceló (2010) and Stefan Szczesny (2014).

Palais des Papes

The Fort Saint-André is a medieval fortress in the commune of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in the Gard département of France, dating from the first half of the 14th century.
History
The treaty of Paris, signed in 1229 at the end of the Albigensian Crusade, handed the French crown land to the west of the Rhone from Pont-Saint-Esprit to the Mediterranean and a joint interest in the city of Avignon. In 1290 the French king, Philip IV (Philippe-le-Bel or Philip the Fair), ceded his claim to Avignon to his father's cousin, Charles II of Naples who was the Count of Provence through his marriage to Beatrice of Provence.
The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-André occupied a strategic position on Mount Andaon within sight of the town of Avignon which lay on the other side of the Rhone. Mount Andaon is a rocky outcrop with steep sides to the north and the east that rises 50 m above the floodplain of the Rhone. Prior to the 1770s the river flowed next to the base of the eastern side of the mount. The plateau at the top covers an area of around 3.5 hectare and extends for 220 m in an east-west direction and 160 m north-south. The top is not flat but rises from south to north by 24 m. The abbey was built at the eastern end of the plateau; the western end was occupied by a small village.
The abbey had been founded at the end of the 10th century and possessed extensive property with over 200 churches spread over a wide area of southern France. In 1290 Philip IV instructed Adam de Montcéliard, the sénéchal of Beaucaire, to negotiate an agreement with the abbey to cooperate in the defense of the right bank of the Rhone. The paréage treaty signed in 1292 specified that Philippe le Bel could build a fortress with a permanent garrison next to the abbey and a castle by the river. The abbey surrendered temporal power but obtained protection from the unwanted pressure from the city of Avignon which wished to control both banks of the Rhone. By 1302 fortifications, including an initial Tour Philippe-le-Bel, had been built at the western end of the Pont Saint-Bénézet which lay less than kilometer from the abbey. In 1309, Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon.
The fortress of Saint-André, with the curtain wall that surrounded the abbey, was built in several stages during the first half of the 14th century. The surviving manuscripts do not allow the construction to be precisely dated. A châtelain is mentioned in documents dating from 1314 and 1344, a guard is mentioned in 1318. The carved crest placed by the abbey above the entrance is dated 20 July 1367. This was probably when modifications were made to the entrance arch. The fortress was continually occupied by officers of the crown up to the time of French revolution.
The fortress was clearly visible from Papal State across the Rhone in the town of Avignon and was intended to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of France.
Preservation
The Fort Saint-André is included as a monument historique by decrees of the 25 April 1903 and 14 November 1925. The site is regularly open to the public for a fee, though it receives a fraction of the visitors at the nearby Palais des Papes.

Fort Saint-André 

The Chateau de Gordes is located in the village centre.
For a thousand years , the castle crowns the village of Gordes. Guillaume d'Agoult , who was one of the earliest ancestors of the powerful feudal family who built fortifications in all the surrounding villages, have mentioned it in 1031. His successors reinforced its protection in 1123, it is called " Nobile Castrum ", the only well known among neighboring castles.
In the middle of the XIVth century, as elsewhere in Provence, the dungeon is enlarge to provide better defenses against incursions by Raymond de Turenne.
Besieged unsuccessfully during the wars of religion, it was the stronghold of the Marquis de Simiane, then the Dukes of Soubise , and the XVIIIth century the Princes of Condé.
The medieval castle was rebuilt between 1525 and 1541 in the own style in the Renaissance under the aegis of Bertrand de Simiane. Since then, the castle has two faces : a very strong aspect of the castle north side and south side of the Renaissance facade.
The imposing building is heavily defended by large round towers which support a crown of battlements terrace artillery, high walls were pierced with three floors of windows "renaissance " is also noticed on the walls, towers and watchtowers, the openings of the guns properly distributed .
The south facade of the castle opens to the sun facing the old town, behind the fountain, an arched door in the wall opens onto a courtyard with magnificent staircase leading to the building.
During the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, the castle seems to have been no major changes, its owners living away, merely to collecting revenue from the manor.
About 1789, the revolutionaries seized the castle but do not destroy it.
The castle was once an integral part of village life , with the opening of a café on the ground street since closed.
The castle becomes historical monument on July 4th, 1931 and its round tower on October 28th, 1949 .
The famous artist Victor Vasarely restored the castle in the sixties
http://uk.rosier.pro/details-the+castle+of+gordes-2099.html

Château de Gordes

Le château de Roussan est situé sur la commune de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, sur la route de Tarascon, dans les Bouches-du-Rhône en France.
Description
Cette bastide provençale est constitué d'une partie centrale du xviiie siècle, une seconde partie abritant notamment la bibliothèque a été accolé au xixe siècle. Un parc avec une serre et un bassin entoure le château.
Histoire
Le premier maître que retient l’histoire fût, dans la deuxième moitié du xvie siècle, le capitaine chevalier Bertrand de Nostredame, frère de Nostradamus. Doté d’une ferme, d’un pigeonnier, de bâtiments d’habitation, le « Mas de Roussan », a été ceint d’un mur de clôture afin de le protéger en cette période troublée des guerres de religion.
Le 16 janvier 1608, le château de Roussan a été confié à Melchior Jacques de Joannis de Nochère, le cousin du petit fils de Bertrand de Nostredame. Diane de Joannis de Roussan a ensuite hérité du château.
En 1701, le château de Roussan fût acheté par Jean-Antoine de Servan, Tarasconnais qui légua le château à son neveu.
En 1848, la famille de Bouchand de Bussy devint propriétaire du château de Roussan et apporta de nombreux embellissements jusqu’en 1887, où la famille Roussel en fit l'acquisition.
Cette propriété a été inscrite au titre des monuments historiques le 11 octobre 1993, et est aujourd’hui un hôtel.

Château de Roussan

At the time of its construction, in the 12th century, the castle of Le Barroux was a mighty keep surrounded by thick bulwarks, which was to protect the plain of the Comtat Venaissin against Saracen and Italian invasions.
It was the seat of the seigniory which belonged successively, from the 12th to the 15th century, to the families des Baux, de Budos, de Ricavi, de Peyre, de Cardaillac, de Rovigliasc, de Pelletier de Gigondas and de Noret.
In 1274, as the Pope took possession of the Comtat Venaissin, Le Barroux became a fiefdom dependent upon the Apostolic Chamber of Carpentras until 1791, as the Comtat was joined to France. So, the tenant of the fief of Le Barroux was listed among the lords vassals and feudatories of Our Holy Father the Pope.
http://www.chateau-du-barroux.com