Bringing back to life an ancient medieval priory, whose monastic spirit still lives on today...

During his childhood in the Luberon, Daniel Vial used to come with his family for picnics on the banks of the Aiguebrun. He was very early marked by the silhouette of this former medieval priory, abandoned and overgrown with vegetation.

“This tower was full of mystery; I imagined stories that could have taken place there. This valley was magical to me, a true little corner of paradise.”

Nothing suggested that, by the end of the 1970s, Daniel Vial would reconnect with his childhood memories thanks to a most unexpected encounter with filmmaker Roger Vadim. As both had Provençal roots, he soon learned that the Priory belonged to the filmmaker’s mother.

Thus, in 1979, Daniel Vial bought the Priory from Marie-Antoinette Ardilouze, Roger Vadim’s mother, in order to save it from ruin and oblivion. Daniel Vial surrounded himself with archaeologists, architects, and master builders, and together they turned back time by restoring and reshaping this monument, more than a thousand years old, into a living place.

Archaeological excavations paved the way for a faithful restoration, respectful of the monument’s history and its environment. As if straight out of the Middle Ages, the Priory remains shrouded in mystery: even though much of its history has been revealed, something still escapes us when we walk through it…