Perhaps the most well-known and most photographed of the 'perched' villages of the Luberon - gorgeous Gordes - with a very expensive-looking hotel on its slopes!
History:
First record, 4th century: Vorda (from the name of the early inhabitants: Vordensès)
1031: Castrum Gordone
Prehistoric: nearby neolithic remains were found at Grande-Côte and Roques.
Gallo-Roman: Numerous Roman and pre-Roman artifacts found here and nearby include amphorae, columns, thermal baths, furniture and tombs carved in solid rock and even skeletons.
Medieval: Gordes was a Simiane fief, eventially passing to the fiefs of Soubise and then Condé (in the 18th century). During the Wars of Religion, Gordes successfully withstood a siege by the Baron of Adrets. Gordes was a centre of wool and leather industries in the 17th and 18th centuries, including weaving, carding and tanning. In 1886, part of the village was destroyed by an earthquake, which tended to hasten the already declining local industries.
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