History of the Bories

On the first slopes of the Monts de Vaucluse, facing the Luberon, the village des Bories, with its sheep pens, bread ovens, wine vats, wheat beating areas, alleys, enclosures and walls, bears witness to the laborious activity of countless generations. Nearly 3000 years of continuity, since the origin of the bories dates back to the Bronze Age, and the most recent ones were built in the 18th century.

On the first slopes of the Monts de Vaucluse, facing the Luberon, the village des Bories, with its sheep pens, bread ovens, wine vats, wheat beating areas, alleys, enclosures and walls, bears witness to the laborious activity of countless generations. Nearly 3000 years of continuity, since the origin of the bories dates back to the Bronze Age, and the most recent ones were built in the 18th century. The Village des Bories, classified as a historical monument in 1977, is the most important collection of this dry-stone habitat, characteristic of the area around Apt, whose highest concentration of these buildings is found near Gordes.

Abandoned for more than a century, invaded by vegetation, the village suffered the ravages of time and severe destruction. It became urgent to restore it and preserve this rare example of spontaneous architecture fortunately integrated into the site by the use of raw materials in an economy of means and shapes. It is now protected, but open to visitors. Organized as a museum of rural life, it houses a collection of traditional objects and tools from the region, an archive of documentation about Gordes' past, dry-stone bories and architecture in France and around the world.

The discovery of the village des Bories is incomparable. The harmonious layout of the horizontal and vertical structures, balance between plants and rocks, the light effects of the rising and setting sun, all contribute to the original charm of a privileged location that is best appreciated in the calm and light of morning.

Sur les premières pentes des Monts de Vaucluse, face au Luberon, le village des Bories

The history of the village

16 août 1979 - Gordes

An afternoon with Ioan Gusa and Claude-Henri Roquet, in Gordes, to visit "the village des bories". An extraordinary impression. To be able to freely enter a village with a Neolithic structure, which was inhabited until the 18th century... Just a little imagination, and we discover a whole world of values and meaning that would be very hard to see in books, photos and isolated rooms in museums...

Mircea Eliade (Excerpts from a diary III)

Mircea Eliade (Fragments d'un journal III)

Borie or bori ?

The generic local term for this type of construction is simply a “hut”. It is also the term that purists prefer because it is the name used by the older generations to designate these constructions. Yet today in the region it is the term “borie” that is commonly used.
Borie is the French equivalent of the Provençal word bori designating a farmhouse and comes from the medieval boveria, boria, or a livestock barn. In French, it is used indiscriminately in both the feminine and masculine forms.

The Village des Bories in Gordes

Gordes, Luberon, Provenza

Before being known as the Village des Bories, this hamlet 270m above sea level near Gordes, was called "Les Cabanes".

Without a cemetery and church, this hamlet is typical of temporary settlements which, in Mediterranean countries, doubled the size of permanent villages and was linked to seasonal agricultural work.

Its appearance results from the important development of farmlands that Provence saw in the 17th and 18th centuries. The rush of people moving to the hills around Gordes is at the origin of thousands of tons of stones extracted from the soil while developing fields and gave birth to the different groups of huts found on this limestone plateau. The cleared plots were planted with "dry" crops: mulberry and almond trees, cereals and feed grains but especially olive groves. Nearby, oil mills of considerable size provide us with information on the principal activity of Gordes until the Great Frost of 1956: oil production.

Complementary activities were numerous and increased the value of the family workforce: breeding of small livestock, honey, gardens, orchards, gathering of aromatic and medicinal plants, picking wild foods, woodwork, truffle hunting, silkworm breeding....

The meagre income from the exploitation of these drylands was a way for people to escape hunger and the lack of grain, which often threatened them.

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