This hermitage dates back to the 12th century, and it is still inhabited by a dozen monks. The Montrieux Monastery is built on the eastern foothills of Sainte-Baume.
The building has an edifice of plan in Latin cross, with transept inscribed on the arms of which rise two small polygonal bell towers surmounted by cupolas.
Built in the 11th century, it became a mosque in the 16th century. It then underwent numerous alterations.
The abbey, which is a true witness to Provençal Romanesque art, was built between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th on an older site. Classified as a historic monument since 1886,the monastery owes its construction to the powerful Abbey of Saint-Victor.
The sanctuary of Sainte-Baume, also known as the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine cave, is a sanctuary erected in a cave in the Sainte-Baume massif. It is an important pilgrimage site for the cult of Saint Mary Magdalene, evangeliser of Provence. As early as the 5th century, Saint John Cassian founded the first priory there. Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, popes, kings and princes made pilgrimages to the cave, one of the most famous in Christianity. The Revolution initiated a period of uncertainty for the cave, which changed owners quite frequently until the cave became the property of the municipality of Plan d'Aups in 1910. A community of four Dominican friars was re-established in the summer of 2002.
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