Plague wall
The plague wall ( French: Mur de la peste ) is an almost 25 kilometer long wall that was built from 1721 in the highlands of Comtat Venaissin (France) to prevent the spread of the plague that resulted in one of the last major epidemics in Europe between the June 1720 and 1722/1723 raged in Provence . Remnants of the wall and of the little huts for the guards can be seen near Murs and Cabrières d'Avignon .
history
On May 25, 1720, the ship Le Grand St. Antoine , coming from Syria, dragged the plague into the port of Marseille . Since the quarantine of ship's crew and cargo on the Île de Jarre was shortened from 40 to 26 days for economic reasons , the disease first spread in the poor areas of the city, but then also in Aix-en-Provence , the Luberon and the Alpilles spread. As a result, numerous barriers were erected in Provence to prevent the disease from spreading. The river crossings were also guarded.
On August 21, 1720, the vice-legate Rainier d'Elci prohibited the papal Comtat Venaissin from trading with the southern parts of Provence. All traffic in the mountains of what would later become the Vaucluse department was banned.
In February 1721, representatives of the Comtat Venaissin and the Kingdom of France agreed to build a wall 25 kilometers long and two meters high between Monieux and the Cabrières gorge to protect their respective areas. Because of the impassable terrain and the lack of qualified construction workers - the work was mainly carried out by farm workers, tramps and children - the construction work lasted until July 1721. The plague wall was then guarded by around a thousand papal soldiers.
The plague reached Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin as early as the end of August 1721 , while it had almost died down in the southern parts of Provence. Without further ado, royal soldiers took over the building in order to protect the south from the north. It was not until January 1723 that the plague was overcome in Comtat Venaissin.
See also
literature
- Stefan Brandenburg, Ines Mache: Provence. Handbook for individual travel and enjoyment. Reise Know-How Verlag Rump, Bielefeld / Brackwede 1996, pp. 479-481, ISBN 3-89416-609-6
Coordinates: 43 ° 53 ′ 41.1 ″ N , 5 ° 8 ′ 22.1 ″ E