It was in the Vth century that the bishop of Riez summoned the monks of Lérins to settle on his lands. They choose a unique place ; a tuff amphitheatre flanked by two chalk cliffs, with a raging torrent emerging between them.
This was how the first Monasterium came about, later to become Moustiers. Expelled by the Saracens, the monks did not return until the 11th –12th centuries, at which time a village grew up around the church of Notre Dame, with its fine Lombardy style bell-tower. Starting from the shady narrow alleys of the village you will reach a steep path that winds up to the chapel of Notre Dame de Beauvoir (12th - 16th centuries). Above it on a chain between the two cliffs hangs a shining golden star. According to legend, this is an ex-voto offered to the Virgin by the Baron of Blacas, a prisoner of the infidels during the crusades.
From the Middle Ages onwards, many potters worked at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, using the local resources of water, wood and clay. At the end of the 17th century, the Clérissy family from Marseilles moved to the village. They started to use polychrome decorations and made Moustiers a prosperous place. In the next century the number of workshops increased dramatically: Olerys, Féraud, etc. The products transported on the backs of mules embellished all the greatest tables in France. But the 19th century was to be fatal for these artisans, and the chinaware industry only restarted in 1925 on the initiative of Marcel Provence. Today, about twenty workshops maintain the reputation of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

Mairie de Moustiers
04360 MOUSTIERS-SAINTE-MARIE

Tel : 0492746784 - Fax : 0492746065
Email : moustiers@wanadoo.fr
web site: www.moustiers.eu