Sights
Forcalquier is built around the slopes of a steep conical hill, crowned by an octagonal chapel, Notre Dame de Provence, where the medieval citadel once stood. The citadel was destroyed in 1601; the chapel with its panoramic view was built in 1875. It has a carillon that can be heard every Sunday morning during the summer.
The oldest part of the town is the area around the Place Saint-Michel with its Renaissance fountain (1511) and its narrow side-streets. There many doorways dating to the 12th to 16th centuries can be found.
The present commercial and social center of town, the Place du Bourguet, is located below the Place St. Michel. The 12th century "concathedral" Notre Dame de l'Assomption with its bell towers stands across from the Place du Bourguet.
The Cordeliers Convent was built in the 13th century by Franciscans named "cordeliers" because of their rope belts. This convent was occupied by monks continuously until the Revolution. The Port de Cordeliers is all that remains of the town's fortified walls.
Monday morning is market day in Forcalquier. The market fills the Place du Bourguet and the adjoining streets.
Noteworthy is the Musée Municipal with its prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artifacts, glass works, and faïence pottery from Mane, Apt and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.
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Famous quotes containing the word sights:
“We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this world; deaf to its voice; and dead to its death. And not till we know, that one grief outweighs ten thousand joys will we become what Christianity is striving to make us.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“You shall see men you never heard of before, whose names you don’t know,... and many other wild and noble sights before night, such as they who sit in parlors never dream of.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in almost nothing.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)