My Photo
Name:
Location: BC, Canada

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

La Garde-Freinet

19 February 2007

La Garde-Freinet (about 18 km. inland from St.-Tropez) is one of Provence’s best-preserved villages; its architecture has remained largely unchanged and almost each of the many stone buildings built without mortar is in perfect condition. Fort Freinet, at 450 m. elevation and now in ruins, is the original medieval village site inhabited from the late 12th century by people from the nearby villages of St.-Clément and Miremer. In the late 13th century the villagers progressively left this hilly abode and went down about 100 m. to what is today the site of the oldest part of La Garde-Freinet.

By the late 15th century Fort Freinet was completely abandoned and after the Religious Wars of the 1500’s it was destroyed in November 1589. Today the remnants of the houses and the fortifications of Fort Freinet can still be seen.








Being perched on a hill with cliffs or extremely steep slopes on every side made it a naturally defensive position. Some hand carving of the rock made it an even stronger fortified village.

With only one path to the top of the hill and an easily defended entry through the cliffs, this would have been a difficult fort to capture.









A cistern ensured a reasonable supply of water, and one side of the fort had a water-filled moat carved out of the rock.

Once inside the naturally defined defensive perimeter the inhabitants built individual family homes; the rock foundations of many are still visible. Marie-Claire plans the interior decorations.

Knowing that a round structure means no worries about square corners, Roger opts for a different home.


The site also had a chapel and a seigneurial residence. Today the old fort provides an excellent viewpoint for the “new” village site begun in the 13th century, the entire Mediterranean face of the Maures Hills, Argens plains and the lower Alpes.




As mentioned above the unique feature of this village is the high proportion of homes built with flat field stones without the use of mortar to hold them in place. Ingenious choice and placement of each individual stone has kept these homes intact for over 700 years.



While portions of the original streets have unfortunately been covered in asphalt, the original uncut stone “paving blocks” can still be seen.

The area has excellent hiking and biking trails.