Our history in Apt

It is in the Heart of The Luberon and at the Foot of the Saignon Rock...

That the former Benedictine Abbey of Saint Eusèbe is located. Tradition traces its foundation back to the early Middle Ages: it is said to have been founded by Saint Marin, who lived in this place. The barbarian invasions put an end to this, and a few years before the year 1000, the great abbey dedicated to Saint Maurice and Saint Just was built. In any case, the first documented evidence remains the act of foundation or restoration, dated 1004.

Robert de Vacaron, a powerful lord of Saignon related to the family of Saint Mayeul, founded the monastery of Saint Eusèbe. In 1032, Eldebert, lord of Saignon, gave the abbey, which had been restored by their family, to the Order of Saint Gilles. Saint Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, took charge of it and installed monks there. In 1096, on his return from a council, Pope Urban II passed through Saint Eusèbe and consecrated a church that had just been rebuilt. Saint Eusèbe then became powerful and prosperous.

The nave is divided into three bays and covered with a barrel vault supported by transverse arches that rest on pilasters with dosserets. Between these pilasters, along the side walls, are double-projecting relief arches. A molded cornice in the shape of a ogee runs along the base of the vault.

In the first bay there was a vaulted gallery. It is this gallery that has recently been extended throughout the nave, thus subdividing the building into two levels. Saint Eusèbe remains a precious witness to the only Benedictine abbey established in Provence during the Roman period.

It is a simple, unadorned construction, without superfluous decoration, but robust and carefully crafted.