As one approaches the village, its skyline beckons. Emerging from the center is the 17th century belfry and clock, keeping time for a village whose roots extend back over a thousand years. There is evidence that even earlier, in the Neolithic Age some 12,000 years ago, the area was inhabited.
Today's clock was built atop a fortified watchtower, built in the 11th century. It is all that remains of the fortress that kept a necessary vigil over Lourmarin in its incipient days. With such a strategic location, at the start of the southern passageway between the Petit Lubéron and Grand Lubéron, there were many travelers between the Mediterranean coast and the Alps during the Middle Ages.