Oppède

Oppède (Occitan: Opèda) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Oppidum is the Latin word for 'town'.

Oppède
Commune
Oppède-le-Vieux
Coat of arms
Location of Oppède
Oppède
Oppède
Coordinates: 43°50′43″N 5°10′10″E
CountryFrance
RegionProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
DepartmentVaucluse
ArrondissementApt
CantonApt
IntercommunalityCoustellet
Government
 • Mayor (2000–2014) Albert Calvo
Area
1
24.1 km2 (9.3 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
1,332
 • Density55/km2 (140/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
84086 /84580
Elevation103–733 m (338–2,405 ft)
(avg. 300 m or 980 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

History

It is in fact two villages: Oppède-le-Vieux ("the old" in French), built against the Petit Luberon and dating back to the 12th century, and Oppède-les-Poulivets ("nice view" in Provençal), today known as "le village", down in the valley.

The old village, built on a rocky hill, has narrow streets. In winter, the Petit Luberon starts casting its shadow early in the afternoon. Houses beyond the medieval ramparts are dark, humid and tricky to maintain.

From below the village is dominated by the restored church of Notre-Dame-Dalidon and the ruins of the castle.

In the 19th century, the inhabitants had enough and started to move down in the valley, dismantling the roof of their houses to stop paying property taxes.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Oppède-le-Vieux was a ghost village and a new community was officially established in the valley, with larger streets, cosier houses and farmers closer to their fields.

Following the armistice of June 1940, architect Bernard Zehrfuss founded a commune of artists in the old town, a project that attracted French sculptor François Stahly and the writer and artist Consuelo de Saint Exupéry. The commune proved short-lived. It was the basis for Saint Exupéry's fictionalized account, published in 1946, called "Kingdom of the Rocks".[2]

Geography

The commune is traversed by the river Calavon.

Personalities
gollark: You do *not* have the GTech™ generalized food production systems, which are capable of producing chocolate.
gollark: > The SinthTech™️ Inc. Memetic Research & Neutralisation Agency (mRNA) has so far discovered everything there is to know about memeticsThis is highly implausible.
gollark: I can't not neither unconfirm nor antideny the non-use of no memetics which might or might not be more powerful or less powerful or equally powerful compared to the lesser memetics which are potentially in use by some entities who may or may not exist.
gollark: You just never interact with human civilization?
gollark: As planned.

See also

References
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. Saint-Exupéry: a biography By Stacy Schiff, page 381
  3. "La Provence dit adieu à Jean-Paul Clébert, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, France Soir, 23 September 2011



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.