Sainte-Victoire Mountain, Priory of Sainte Victoire, Croix de Provence

The first spurs of hermitage go back up to the 5th century : at instigation of Saint-Cassien, an hermitage was built there, purpose of numerous pilgrims, including kings and crowned heads :

• In the 13th century, passages of four girls of the Count of Provence, Beranger V. Among them, the most diligent was Beatrix, Queen of Naples and Sicily, sister-in-law of Saint-Louis IX.

• In the 15th, Marguerite d’Anjou, Queen of England, wife of king Henri the 6th.

On the 17th century, the hermitage knew a big influx of pilgrims called the "Venturiers" (the Sainte Victoire mountain was called "Mont Venture" at that time). To face it, Jean Aubert, a priest of the Church St Sauveur in Aix en Provence decided to restore and to enlarge the initial hermitage and ordered to build the priory (1654-1664). At his death in 1692, the religious life of the priory knew a progressive decline. Only some hermits agreed afterwards to live there, in an occasional way, whereas pilgrimages continued.

Buildings were abandoned after the Revolution, and degraded little by little.

It is only in 1954 that an association created by Henri Imoucha, "Les amis de la Sainte Victoire" (the friends of Sainte Victoire), began the restoration of this magic place.

The priory includes the chapel and the former monastery, transformed into a shelter. The well was restored in 2008 to collect the rainwater.