The Chaîne des Alpilles is a small range of low mountains in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, located about south of Avignon.

Geography

The range is an extension of the much larger

Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...

range. Although it is not high - some 498 m (1,634 ft) at its highest point - the Alpilles range stands out impressively, as it rises abruptly from the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

valley and from the very flat alluvial plain of Crau. The range is about 25 km long by about 8 to 10 km wide, running in an east-west direction between the Rhône and Durance rivers. The landscape of the Alpilles is one of arid

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

peaks separated by dry valleys. Alpilles topographic map-fr

Communes

The Chaîne des Alpilles is part of the territory of 15

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

: Aureille, Les Baux-de-Provence, Eygalières, Eyguières, Fontvieille, Mas-Blanc-des-Alpilles, Maussane-les-Alpilles, Mouriès, Paradou, Orgon,

Saint-Étienne-du-Grès Saint-Étienne-du-Grès ( Provençal: ''Sant Estève dau Gres'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. The commune was created in 1935 from part of Tarascon. It is situat ...

, Saint-Martin-de-Crau,

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. L ...

, Sénas, Tarascon.

Flora and fauna

The lower slopes are planted with olive and almond trees.

Kermes oak ''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak, is an oak bush in the '' Ilex'' section of the genus. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus ...

s and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

s also grow there. Much of the range is bare rock or stony ground covered with scrub and maquis. The highest parts of the range are a nature reserve inhabited by a number of rare species, including Bonelli's eagle, the Egyptian vulture and

eagle owl The American (North and South America) horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus ''Bubo'', at least as traditionally described. The genus name ''Bubo'' is Latin for the Eurasian eagle-owl. This genus contains 19 species that ar ...

. .

History

Some

protohistorical Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

settlements have been found in the Alpilles. In the very old village of Les Baux de Provence, a cave was used 8000 years ago.

Conservation

The Parc Naturel Régional des Alpilles was created on January 30, 2007. It covers the territory of 16 communes. The area is also under the protection of the Natura 2000 Environmental Protection Plan of the European Union.

The Alpilles in arts

The Alpilles were immortalized in art by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, who painted many images of the Alpilles' landscapes during his time in

on the north side of the mountains. One of the paintings was given by van Gogh to his friend Eugène Boch.http://www.eugeneboch.com More about the Alpilles painting by Vincent van Gogh Alphonse Daudet's 1885 novel '' Tartarin sur les Alpes'', which is a sequel to the 1872 '' Tartarin de Tarascon'', takes place in the Alpilles.

References

{{Coord, 43, 45, 00, N, 4, 50, 00, E, type:adm2nd_region:FR, display=title Mountain ranges of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Landforms of Bouches-du-Rhône Northeastern Spain and Southern France Mediterranean forests