The Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher is located at Beaumont-du-Ventoux, in the Vaucluse, 20 km north-east of Carpentras. It was built at the hamlet of Valettes, in a rural environment or isolated, in the middle of the twelfth century, then dependent on the abbey of Saint-Victor de Marseille.
The Romanesque chapel was rebuilt in the 17th century, restored in 1987 and has been protected as a historical monument since 2000.
Comprising a nave of three bays, its bedside consists of a semicircular apse. The wall is pierced by a bay with the vocation of a small campanile which shelters a bell.
The foundations of the chapel were built in stone, the rest in rubble. The building is famous for the carved lintel that supports the tympanum above the door. One observes a character (a priest or even Christ) with his right hand raised as if he were about to bless someone or to take an oath. It is framed by columns, crosses and what appears to be a sarcophagus.
Another singularity of the chapel is to present in many places, engraved on stones, marks of workmen, that is to say initials by which the craftsmen "signed" their participation in the construction. For this reason, historians suggest that the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher was raised by a corporation of stonecutters.
Information on +33 4 90 63 00 78 or +33 4 90 64 01 21.
