Le Tholonet (; ''Lou Toulounet'' and ''Lo Tolonet'' in Provençal) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and large ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Its inhabitants are called ''Tholonétiens''.

Geography

The commune is near

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

, and at the foot of the

montagne Sainte-Victoire Montagne Sainte-Victoire ( Provençal oc, Venturi / Santa Venturi according to classical orthography and oc, Ventùri / Santo Ventùri, label=none according to Mistralian orthography) is a limestone mountain ridge in the south of France whi ...

. The river

Arc ARC may refer to: Business * Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s * Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services * ...

goes through the commune. The hamlet of Palette, which gives its name to the

Palette AOC Palette is a small French wine AOC in the Provence region of southern France, near Aix-en-Provence. The AOC was established in 1948. The grapes for this AOC are grown in Aix-en-Provence, Meyreuil, and Le Tholonet. The hamlet of Palette, which giv ...

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'', is located on the commune's territory.Palette A.O.C.
vinsvignesvignerons.com

History

The earliest signs of human presence can be dated back to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

, and are located in the Infernet and Espinades ranges."Carte archéologique de la Gaule : Aix-en-Provence, pays d'Aix, val de Durance", 13/4, Fl. Mocci, N. Nin (dir.), Paris, 2006, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, ministère de l'Éducation nationale, ministère de la Recherche, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, maison des Sciences de l'homme, centre Camille-Jullian, ville d'Aix-en-Provence, communauté du pays d'Aix, p. 684-90. In the nineteenth century, a small

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

named "Ragabom camp" or "Ratabom camp" was discovered at the Infernet site. The camp consists of fortifications build with large stone blocks. The ruins are barely discernible today.

Archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

surveys done from 1979-1980 helped discover furnishings dated from the Iron Ages up to the 2nd century BC, a time when the site was highly populated.

Population

Sights

* The '' Château du Tholonet'' (in its current form) was built by

Alexandre de Galliffet Alexandre may refer to: * Alexandre (given name) * Alexandre (surname) * Alexandre (film) See also * Alexander * Xano (disambiguation) Xano is the name of: * Xano, a Portuguese hypocoristic of the name "Alexandre (disambiguation) Alexandre may ...

in the 1640s. Galliffet had bought the plot from the Jarente family, and was president of the Aix-en-Provence parliament. His grandson Louis-François added a theater for his mistress Émilie de Marignane, wife of the famous orator

Mirabeau Mirabeau may refer to: People and characters * Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798–1859), second President of the Republic of Texas French nobility * Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau (1715–1789), French physiocrat * Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, com ...

. A marble cutting mill was used for Tholonet marble, known under the name Brêche d'Alep. Currently, the domain is owned by the ''Société du Canal de Provence (SCP)''. * Moulin Cezanne, an old

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

that has been restored. Currently it is used to host painting and sculpture exhibitions. * Ruins of the

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

that brought water from Saint-Antonin to

. This fifteen-kilometre aqueduct bridge, located in the Cause ravine, had a rate of nearly 80 liters per second and was one of four aqueducts that supplied ''Aquae Sextiae'', Aix-en-Provence during the Roman period. The Aix painter

Jean-Antoine Constantin Jean-Antoine Constantin (January 1756 - 9 January 1844) was a French painter. Biography Born in the vicinity of the Loubière, in Marseille, Jean-Antoine Constantin studied at the Academy of Painting in Marseille under the tutelage of Jean-Jose ...

drew sketches of it, which are now in the Aix-en-Provence Méjanes libraries. * The

Zola Dam Zola Dam is a dam in Le Tholonet near Aix-en-Provence, France. History The dam was designed by Italian-born engineer François Zola, the father of novelist Émile Zola. Its construction was initially rejected by Gaston Alexandre Auguste, Marqui ...

in the valley of the Cause river.

Media

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

, who painted Sainte-Victoire and the black castle at Tholonet, would often eat at the Berne restaurant, today named Relais Cézanne. *

Jacqueline de Romilly Jacqueline Worms de Romilly (; née David, Greek: Ζακλίν ντε Ρομιγύ, 26 March 1913 – 18 December 2010) was a French philologist, classical scholar and fiction writer. She was the first woman nominated to the Collège de France, an ...

, member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, wrote the book ''Sur les chemins de Sainte-Victoire'', published by Fallois (2001). * In 2006, Michel Bernascolle's book ''Les Rapegons de Sainte-Victoire'' was published by Cheminements.

Personalities

Georges Duby Georges Duby (7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Franc ...

, a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and former member of the

, is buried in Tholonet's small cemetery.