Monastery
Monastère de la Verne
The majestic 12th-century Monastère de la Verne sits on a forested ridge in the Massif des Maures, rising like an island of honeyed stone in a sea of green. The Carthusian institution was founded in 1170, possibly on the site of a temple to the goddess Laverna, protector of the bandits who hid in the Maures. It has been ravaged by fire and rebuilt several times over the years (much of the reconstruction dates from the 17th and 18th centuries).