Chapelle Saint-André d'Estoublon

The Chapelle Saint-André d'Estoublon stands as a religious ruin perched on a rocky outcrop above the Escale ravine in the Trévans Gorges, surrounded by limestone cliffs and Mediterranean vegetation in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of southeastern France.

Founded in the thirteenth century by Jacques Apérioculos, lord of Gaubert and Trévans, the chapel originally housed Carmelite monks brought from the Holy Land during the seventh crusade in 1254 before being destroyed in 1575 during religious wars.

The monastery played an important spiritual and social role for local communities until the sixteenth century when it suffered damage during the Wars of Religion, ultimately being confiscated and sold during the French Revolution in 1792.

Access to the chapel requires a two-and-a-half-hour hiking trail starting from the Majastres road, following a balcony path through limestone cliffs with a total elevation change of 194 meters over 4.9 kilometers.

Artist Herman de Vries engraved the Latin phrase natura numquam errat, meaning nature never makes mistakes, in golden letters on rocks throughout the gorges, creating a contemplative dialogue between art and natural environment.