Manosque
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A 5 km de Pierrevert, 6 km de Sainte-Tulle, 7 km de Dauphin, 9 km de Corbières, 12 km de Vinon-sur-Verdon, 14 km de Gréoux les Bains GPS : Longitude : 5.785556 E - Latitude : 43.833057 N A small village typical of Provence, Manosque is the birthplace of Jean Giono (1895-1970), the French writer best remembered for his 1951 book, Le Hussard sur le toit. Giono wrote 'Born in Manosque, I never left her…'. In 1972 Henri Fluchère and Aline Giono founded an association dedicated to celebrating the life and work of Jean Giono. Manosque is on the right bank of the river Durance. Its medieval origins are immediately apparent from the the two monumental gates that flank the north and south of the town – the Porte Saunerie, which stands as a testament to Manosque’s prestigious rôle in the Middle Ages and which now forms the town’s the main entrance and commercial area, and the fourteenth-century Porte Soubeyran. Manosque's coat of arms is made up of four hands and bears the motto Omnia in manu dei sunt - ‘Everything is in God's hands’. |
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Provençal market: Saturday morning. Festivities: fairs on the eve of Palm Sunday and on Saint-Pancrace's day. Local festival during May. Medieval festival held every two years. Celebratory days organised in honour of Jean Giono. Exhibitions and special evenings. |
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What to see and visit: The Centre Jean Giono is immediately next to the Porte Saunerie - the writer Jean Giono (1985-1970) was born and died in Manosque; a Romanesque gateway – the Porte du Sel (1832); the fourteenth-century Porte Soubeyran; the campanile (1830); the recently restored Porte Guilhempierre; the Porte d'Aubette; the tenth-century Romanesque Église Notre-Dame-de-Romigier; the Romano-Gothic Église Saint-Sauveur (twelfth and thirteenth century); the hillside Chapelle Saint-Pancrace.