Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Vaucluse

Vaucluse

The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.- History :Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes...

 department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...

 region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 in southeastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Heraldry

The coat of arms of the village of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is:

"Blue, with a Trout and a silver shadow, poised horizontally." (Malte-Brun, in France Illustrated, book V, 1884)

Geography

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse ("spring of Vaucluse") is built around a spring

Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...

 in a valley at the foot of the Vaucluse Mountains, between Saumane

Saumane-de-Vaucluse

Saumane-de-Vaucluse is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-References:*...

 and Lagnes

Lagnes

Lagnes is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.This charming village lies at the very south west tip of the Plateau de Vaucluse, which rises behind the village, and on which one can walk or climb for miles.The road through the village...

, not far from L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a town and commune on the Sorgue river southeastern France. Politically, the commune is in the arrondissement of Avignon within the département of Vaucluse and the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.The small town is famous for its many antique shops and hosts antique...

. It is named after the spring, the source of the River Sorgue

Sorgues (river)

The Sorgues is a long river in the Aveyron département, southern France. Its source is a karstic spring at Cornus, on the causse du Larzac. It flows generally west-northwest...

.

Hydrography

The fountain, or spring, of Vaucluse, situated at the feet of a steep cliff 230 metres high, is the biggest spring in France. It is also the fifth largest in the world with an annual flow of 630 million cubic metres.

History

This village of 600 inhabitants was once called Vaucluse or the closed valley (Vallis Clausa in Latin) and it gave its name to the French department of Vaucluse. Several trails indicate human occupation in the area since the neolithic era. Its spring has been the object of a major cult since Antiquity. Following some major discoveries from two cave dives by the SSFV, two archaeological sites under the protection of the SRA PACA has allowed more than 1600 antique coins from the first century BC to the 5th century AD to be brought back up to the surface.

Demographics

Historical population:

1962 : 615

1968 : 698

1975 : 532

1982 : 604

1990 : 580

1999 : 610

2006 : 685

Places and monuments

• The principal point of interest is the source of the Sorgue
  Sorgue
  The Sorgue is a river in southeastern France, lying between the foothills of the Alps and the river Rhone. Its source is at the town of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse and is the biggest spring in France and the fifth biggest in the world....
  
   to the foot of a cliff 240 metres high: Its average flow is 22 m³ / second, the highest in France, and can attain 110 m³ after the snow melts. It wasn't until 1985 that the mystery of its origin was partially revealed: in effect, the lowest point is at -308m depth attained by a robot belonging to the Spelunking Society of Fontaine de Vaucluse. The spring is the only exit point of a subterranean basin of 1200 km² that collects the water from Mount Ventoux, the Vaucluse mountains and from the Lure mountain.
• Ruins of the castle of the Bishop of Cavaillon
• Ancient paper mill
• Museum of the resistance
• Petrarch museum (on the site of his former house)
• Santon museum

External links

• tourism : visit of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
• www.laSorgue.com
• Fontaine-de-Vaucluse sur le site de l'Institut Géographique National
• Fontaine-de-Vaucluse on the INSEE website
• Fontaine-de-Vaucluse on the Quid website
• Localisation of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse on a map of France and other bordering communes
• Plan of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse on Mapquest
• Spelunking society of Fontaine de Vaucluse
• Office of Tourism