Discovery tour of Saint Restitut

Saint-Restitut is a village built out of stone on a rocky promontory overlooking the plain Des Paluds. It was once inhabited by the ‘Tricastini’. The history of the village revolves mainly around the mining of the famous local white stone and its patron Saint Restitut, who, according to the Gospel, was born blind. His relics are said to be in the funerary tower adjoining the church. The windy lanes lined with the quarrymen’s houses, built alongside their masters’ mansions, lead the way to the tower house and the romanesque church adjacent to the funerary tower. Those are all listed buildings. Once you have stepped through the gate called ‘Porte Rose’, walk onto Chemin du Mistral towards the chapel of Saint Sépulcre and the stone ‘sentinels’ - a contemporary memorial to quarry workers. The trails to the white stone quarries still bear the marks of the heavy carts transporting blocks of stone. Quarry workers endured this hard life from time immemorial to give builders enough stone to build cathedrals in the Middle Ages, as well as some more recent buildings.

A la tour funéraire qui fut élevée sur son tombeau au XIème siècle, fut accolée un siècle plus tard la très belle église romane. Prenez le temps de déambuler dans les ruelles et d'admirer, à l'extérieur des remparts, la chapelle hexagonale du Saint-Sépulcre bâtie au XVIème siècle ainsi que l'oeuvre contemporaine « Les Sentinelles » constituée de blocs de calcaire en hommage aux carriers qui firent la renommée du village.
Le nom de Saint-Restitut a été précédé par le lieu-dit de Longueville puis, Villa Santi Restituti, puis Restitut la montagne pendant la Révolution.