Travel Guide Mazan

Mazan has been awarded the "Pays d'Art et d'Histoire" label for its rich and sometimes dramatic history: recently, in the attic of the former mansion housing the tourist office, paintings were discovered recounting the 16th-century invasions by the Protestant bands of Baron des Adrets and Seigneur de Montbrun. In addition to the communal museum housed in the former chapel of the Pénitents blancs (17th century), with its beautiful ceiling painted by a master of the Avignon School, 66 6th-century Paleochristian sarcophagi, similar to those at the Alyscamps in Arles, can be seen in the north-east of the village, surrounding the cemetery. Hundreds of them are now known to have lined the ancient Carpentras-Mormoiron road. The wealth of archaeological digs attests to the town's importance from Antiquity onwards. Three potter's kilns were discovered, in operation from 40 BC to 50 AD. The kilns produced clay horse and dog heads for cultural purposes, as well as Campana-type facing slabs for temple decoration: a unique find in France. Then it was a "Dressel Italian-type" wine amphora from 40 BC that allowed the archaeologists to conclude that they were indeed in the presence of evidence of the oldest Celto-Ligurian or Gallo-Roman vineyard (after Massilia/Marseille). A number of illustrious lords have left beautiful residences in Mazan, including the Château de Sade, birthplace of the father and uncle of the Divine Marquis, the famous Abbé de Sade.