Tour Sarrasine (vestiges)
FortressHidden Treasure
Standing on its rocky spur overlooking the Etang de Berre, the Tour Sarrasine de Vitrolles is a striking medieval vestige, a stone sentinel that the Mistral has been whipping around Provence's limestone hills for centuries.
History
Perched atop the rock of Vitrolles, more than 130 metres above the plain of the Étang de Berre, the Tour Sarrasine offers one of the most breathtaking panoramas in all of western Provence. This fortified vestige, listed as a Historic Monument in 1929, towers high above the shimmering waters of the lake, the hills of the Estaque mountain range and, on a clear day, even Cézanne's beloved Sainte-Victoire massif. The truncated silhouette of the tower, standing on its white limestone base, is an iconic image that local residents have recognised for generations. What fundamentally sets this monument apart from the many medieval towers of Provence is the sublime brutality of its siting. The rock of Vitrolles is not a site chosen for convenience: it is a veritable natural belvedere, making the building both impregnable and visually dominant on all the roads of the plain. The tower, whose thick walls of local cut stone bear witness to careful construction despite its rustic appearance, was designed to intimidate as much as to defend. The visit begins at the car park, with the climb up the rocky path winding between the pine and kermes trees. The effort is quickly rewarded: the remains stand before the visitor with remarkable solemnity, and the panorama that opens out over the Etang de Berre - today surrounded by the industrial facilities of the Lavéra refinery and Marseille-Provence airport - offers a disturbing contrast between the ancient and the contemporary, between medieval stone and the modern world. The site's garrigue and limestone setting remains one of great wild beauty. Thyme, rosemary and boxwood cover the sides of the rock, and the low-angled light at the end of the afternoon sets the blonde stone alight with an incomparable golden hue. There's something for everyone here, from photography enthusiasts to hikers and medieval history buffs, in a surprisingly unspoilt setting just a stone's throw from the city of Marseille.
Architecture
The Tour Sarrasine de Vitrolles is a type of watchtower, a defensive structure typical of medieval Provence. Situated at the top of a rocky limestone spur, it exploited the natural topography of the site to the full: the rock itself formed the first line of defence, its sheer cliff making direct assault virtually impossible on several sides. The tower, of which only part of the elevation remains, is roughly quadrangular in plan, typical of seigniorial buildings of the 10th-12th centuries in Provence, as opposed to later cylindrical towers. The walls are built of local limestone, the hard white limestone characteristic of the relief of the Chaîne de l'Estaque and the Crau hills. The stonework, with roughly squared rubble in the lower courses and more carefully dressed stone in the preserved upper sections, bears witness to several successive construction or repair campaigns. The thickness of the walls, estimated at more than a metre, ensured resistance to projectiles and considerable thermal inertia in the Provencal climate. Only the lower part of the original elevation remains visible today. However, we can still make out the probable location of a narrow semi-circular bay, typical of Romanesque openings, as well as traces of the intermediate floors having been torn out. Today, the monument draws much of its evocative power from its state as a picturesque ruin, in striking dialogue with the Mediterranean sky and the surrounding garrigue landscape.
Related Figures
Seigneurs de Vitrolles (XIe-XIIIe siècle) — famille seigneuriale dont la tour constituait le symbole du pouvoirCharles Ier d'Anjou — comte de Provence à partir de 1246, sous lequel les fortifications provençales furent reorganiséesVicomtes de Marseille — suzerains du territoire au haut Moyen Âge, ayant probablement ordonné l'édification des premières défensesJean-Baptiste de la Croix de Castries — inspecteur général des Monuments historiques ayant contribué aux recensements patrimoniaux provençaux du XIXe siècleFrédéric Mistral — chantre de la Provence dont l'œuvre a contribué à la redécouverte du patrimoine médiéval régional
