Offering a panoramic view over the Durance valley, the charming hilltop village of Lurs is a lovely place to wander around with its flower-decked streets lined with tastefully-restored stone houses, a Romanesque church, clock tower, delightful little open-air theatre and château, once the home of the bishops of Sisteron. Make a point of walking down the Promenade des Évèques, a beautiful footpath lined with 15 shrines that leads to Notre-Dame de Vie chapel. From the chapel, the view over the Durance valley, Valensole plateau, Lure mountain and the foothills of the Alps at Digne is really superb!
The Rencontres Internationales de Lure, a graphic arts and calligraphy event, is held there every last week of August.
Village perched on a rocky outcrop above the Durance, Lurs extends from north to south on a gentle slope at an altitude of 621 m. The village is bordered to the south and east by the olive trees, some centenaries of which give an oil of an exceptional quality, green and fragrant. To the west he looks at the Pays de Forcalquier with hills perfumed with thyme, rosemary and lavender.
It was inhabited by the Celts-Ligures, then by the Romans who occupied the site of Alaunium, on the Via Domitia which linked Italy to Spain (at the foot of Lurs), this land was very early Christianized. At the time of the great invasions, driven by the Vandals, the inhabitants took refuge on the heights, where a bishop built the first Castrum of Lurio. Consecrated Episcopal Land and Principality in 812, by Charlemagne, the village retained the privileges granted by the Emperor until 1562. The bishops of Sisteron, princes of Lurs, lived in the castle located at the northern end of the village until 1789.
From 1836, a slow desertification began. The village passed from 1044 inhabitants in 1836 to about 300 a century later. The rural exodus and the wars had done their job. The village will not rise until the second world war. Jean Giono and Maximilien Vox, typographer, created the Rencontres de Lure (Graphic Arts), putting the village in the spotlight of the world.
Since then, Lurs is a well-known, cosmopolitan village with an intense cultural life, a rich heritage, a terroir favorable to the cultivation of the olive tree and finally a very pleasant life rhythm.
