Moustiers-Ste. Marie
Where Provence Went to Pot
The first of these is undoubtedly the more scenic, as it follows the north side of the Gorges de Verdon – great for passengers, if a bit hairy for the driver, though there are several stopping places where drivers can relax from the strain of the hairpins and share the spectacular views.
The other route takes you through beautiful Provençal countryside, with glimpses of the lavender fields in bloom in June/July. It also affords a more striking view of the Lac de Sainte-Croix, a man-made lake created for the benefit of the hydro-electric system. Depending on your starting point, you can reach Moustiers by taking the N85 north-west from Grasse to Castellane and following the D952, or leaving the A8 at Brignoles (exit 35) and heading north via Le Val, Cotignac, Aups and Aigunes. The first of these is undoubtedly the more scenic, as it follows the north side of the Gorges de Verdon – great for passengers, if a bit hairy for the driver, though there are several stopping places where drivers can relax from the strain of the hairpins and share the spectacular views. The other route takes you through beautiful Provençal countryside, with glimpses of the lavender fields in bloom in June/July. It also affords a more striking view of the Lac de Sainte-Croix, a man-made lake created for the benefit of the hydro-electric system.
Either way, the approach to the town is very odd: you get teasing glimpses of it at intervals as the road seems to go further away, then back and then away again. Don’t despair but follow the signs to the town centre car park, ignoring the fact that many people park on the roadside. When you reach the car park (free, incidentally), although you appear to have missed the town altogether, you are, in fact, only a few hundred yards away if you follow the footpath down.
The site and its history
The first thing to be said about Moustiers is that its site is extraordinary. The town is built on a series of narrow terraces on a steep mountainside – so much so that, from a distance, the impression is that the houses are built on top of one another. The layout is further complicated by the fact that these terraces are divided by two rivers, the Maire and the Rioule, the latter pouring out through a series of waterfalls from the cleft in the cliff that surmounts the town – but more of that later. Happily, these divisions are dealt with by numerous bridges to avoid the inevitable detours, which would otherwise be tiresome in so small a town. Moustiers is, in fact, highly tourist-friendly in this and other aspects, as befits a place that seems largely to exist for their enjoyment.
However, before introducing present-day Moustiers, we should consider its past. The town was founded by St Maximus and his brethren from the island monastery of Lérins in 435AD, though quite why seems unclear. They built a chapel to the Virgin Mary and lived in grottoes in the cliff until they fled the Saracen invaders – which just shows how far inland these marauders were able to penetrate and ravage. However, the monks returned in 1052 to found a priory. Later on, Moustiers became part of the territory of the Counts of Provence who put it more firmly on the map as the administrative centre for 18 surrounding communes. In 1246 it was enclosed by walls with three watch towers, although it remained subject to raids, pillaging and sieges for some time after.
The name Moustiers, incidentally, is said to have been derived from the Roman name Castrum Monasterium (mentioned in documents dating from 1084) – though by what means is scarcely obvious.
There are plenty of relics from the earlier times, notably objects from the Roman era in the town museum and the Chapel of Our Lady of Beauvoir, founded in the 5th century and reconstructed in the 12th. This is open to visitors but it is a demanding hike to get there above the town. Those with sufficient energy can find there an impressive Romanesque porch and belfry, a Renaissance wooden door and, inside, Romanesque and Gothic bays off the nave and a Gothic apse. The site has attracted pilgrims ever since the original pilgrimage of the Bishop of Clermont in 470AD.
The chapel site also offers magnificent views over the lush countryside below. At this point it should be said that Moustiers offers essentially three views: those of the town from outside; those of the country from the town; and a third upwards from the town. The cleft though which the Rioule runs, as the Notre-Dame waterfall, is linked at the top by a chain some 230m long, the Cadeno or Chaine de l’Etoile, from the middle of which hangs a golden star.
Legend has it that this was put there by a knight returning from imprisonment in the Holy Land during the 7th Crusade, in fulfilment of a vow. Photographers should be warned that this view represents a tall order for any but those with high definition zoom lenses – and even then it is necessary to judge the time of day carefully to avoid adverse sun effects. Virtually all the postcards of this view, of which countless are offered by shops in the town, have the star retouched! Indeed, logic suggests that the current golden star is unlikely to be the original one, but must have been refurbished more than once over the centuries – but, if so, the tourist office is not letting on.
Potters bar none
Of course, what Moustiers is all about is pottery or faïence. The French term does not derive, as is sometimes thought, from the village of Fayence, but from the Italian town of Faenza. A monk from there, working at the Sevite monastery in Moustiers in 1668, is reputed to have passed on the secret of the milk-white tin-glazing and ‘Moustiers blue. (Oddly enough, the potters of Faenza used the term majolica for their ceramics, since they in their turn had adopted methods pioneered in Majorca.)
Initially, pottery was a small craft industry, but it burgeoned in the late 17th century, thanks to edicts of Louis XIV, who compelled the nobles of France to surrender their gold and silver tableware to be melted down for the benefit of the state finances. Their coffers had been emptied by the costs of endless wars. The reaction was immediate: the noble houses had to eat off something and the message was ‘let them eat off ceramics’, as Marie-Antoinette might have said had she been around at the time.
The boom that this set off gave rise to the opening of numerous ceramics factories. As the technology of baking developed, the original monochrome designs gave way first to two-colour work and then to multicoloured pictorial ware. The traditional hunting scenes became replaced by more elaborate designs, many inspired by the grotesques’ of the Italian Renaissance. These included arabesques, mythological figures, the characters of the Commedia dell’Arte, fantastic birds and animals, and floral patterns. Craftsmen came from far and wide to share the growing market. At its height, in 1780, this expansion from a cottage to a serious industry increased the population to some 3600.
However, as with many industries, boom was followed by bust, one factor being the development of cheaper factory products to challenge the hand-made work. By the mid- to late-19th century the number pf factories had declined to a mere dozen of which the last closed in 1873. With the collapse of the industry, the population dwindled rapidly to about 500 at the start of the 20th century. The present revival is largely attributed to one man, the aptly named Marcel Provence, who in 1925 was determined to resurrect the tradition. As a result, Moustiers has seen a modest recent growth to a population of 600 today, many of them replicating the old designs or creating their own new ones in ateliers throughout the village.
Around the village
Since the pottery business, and the tourism it attracts, is Moustiers’ raison d’être, it is hardly surprising that there is a ceramics museum. More surprising is that it costs only €2 to visit – until you actually see it. The museum consists of a single room with a dozen or so showcases, crammed with examples from the earliest works through the centuries. The price of admission includes loan of a guide-leaflet, available in several languages, and a screening, in an adjacent room of a video that will tell you everything you might want to know (and possibly a great deal more) about the history, development and processes involved. The Museum is open every day except Tuesdays from April to October from 9am to noon and 2to 6pm (7pm in July and August). It is well-signposted and easily found on the ground floor of the Mairie.
For such a small village, the layout, given the site, the ravines and bridges, is complicated to the point of seeming maze-like. However, the shaded narrow lanes are not so many that getting lost is a serious option. It soon becomes apparent that virtually any shop that is not itself an atelier is selling the products of those that are.
Almost every other business is a bar or restaurant, so there is no lack of choice, whether of snacks or full-scale menus.
A central feature is the largely Gothic church, started in the 14th and enlarged in the 16th century. The original bell tower was separate from the church itself but it had the alarming characteristic of wobbling when the bells were rung. In 1750 it was braced with beams and iron stays and anchored firmly to the main building. At the same time the vaults were similarly reinforced, as they had shifted dangerously during the 1708 earthquake centred on Manosque. The present belfry is attractively pierced with Romanesque arches on slender columns. The altar is a 5th century sarcophagus found in Moustiers, sculpted with a representation of the crossing of the Red Sea.
Behind the church, but not accessible from it, is a pleasant square raised above the largest ravine. One side is occupied by the tourist office, well-stocked with information and manned by a helpful staff.
Just outside the entrance to the church is a small wall-mounted fountain, one of four in the village. Called the Fountain of Diana, this is the scene of a curious custom every year on September 8 and for the following week of the Nativity of the Virgin. Every morning, a troupe of singers and musicians wake the villagers at dawn with performances of a single tune, the Song of Diana. For good measure, on September 8 itself, they start even earlier, accompanying a procession to the church for a 4am mass. It must be assumed, since this tradition is still maintained, that the villagers do not object to this peculiar, and repetitive, form of alarm call.
To conclude
Whether anywhere is worth a visit is a highly subjective matter. Michelin, which has refined such issues into categories, rates Moustiers neither worth a visit or worth a detour, but just ‘interesting’ (which puts it one degree above ‘see if possible’).
For anyone seriously interested in ceramics and craftwork it is a must-see. For those whose interest in potters doesn’t extend much beyond Harry, the rewards are more likely to be in the form of a truly exceptional site, a very pretty village and a most agreeable ambiance. Moustiers is unquestionably both tourist-friendly and tourist-hungry, but its offerings have mercifully avoided the reliance on kitsch so common in Provence. I doubt whether anyone who goes there, having read this commentary, will come away disappointed.
