The 2026 European Heritage Days weekend invited residents and visitors to explore local heritage from a new perspective. The CoVe and participating municipalities organized 28 events across 18 towns, drawing a total of 1,758 visitors. This turnout highlights public interest in the rich, often little-known, local heritage and the original ways it was presented.
This edition featured a wide variety of activities, including guided tours, musical discoveries, photography exhibitions, live performances, and the opening of sites usually inaccessible to the public. The Baptistery of Venasque welcomed 303 visitors, the Groseau chapel in Malaucène recorded 110, and Saint-Didier à la Sainte-Garde saw 220 participants. The Forum des Patrimoines attracted 154 visitors. In Carpentras, the Porte d’Orange opened its doors to 68 visitors, while in Mazan, the Notre-Dame-de-la-Brune chapel was explored by 109 people.
Innovative offerings, such as musical tours, photographic exhibitions, live performances, the discovery of ex-votos, and mediation adapted for visually impaired individuals, showcased the many ways heritage can be experienced.
The Château de Thézan stood out particularly, welcoming 1,181 visitors over two days, underscoring the public's fascination with emblematic heritage sites and the new historical facets they can reveal.
Beyond the numbers, this edition reaffirms the pleasure of gathering around local heritage and the curiosity of residents for the surrounding riches. An invitation is extended for next year.
A guided tour of the Notre-Dame-la-Brune chapel in Mazan allowed visitors to discover the ex-votos, testimonies of faith and gratitude, as well as the challenges of their preservation.
