Notre-Dame Chapel of the Roc

According to historians, the Notre-Dame-du-Roc chapel dates back sometimes to the 9th century, sometimes to the 11th century, but the oldest parts of the current chapel date back to the 12th century at the earliest. It would in any case have been associated with the castle of Aldebert I and would have been reserved for the use of the baron and the inhabitants of the fortified castle, the religious service being carried out by a monk from the Saint-Victor abbey in Marseille. We do not know if in 1483, when King Louis XI decreed the demolition of the castle, the church was maintained or if it was then destroyed. Some historians affirm that the chapel was preserved and erected as a benefit under the title of commende, while others put forward the hypothesis of its destruction.
The chapel was rebuilt in 1590, after the devastation caused by the Hugenots who left part of the apse and almost the entire southern wall remaining.
On January 3, 1663, the convent of the Fathers of Mercy was founded in the Notre-Dame-du-Roc church. But from 1672, these monks, feeling too isolated, had their new home built lower down, on the city walls. The chapel, however, did not last more than a century and fell into ruin in 1703. Its reconstruction was decided in 1775. It was Joseph Feraud, member of a line of architects known from Castellane, who was responsible for the reconstruction with mainly repair work on the apse, in the sacristy and on the roof.
The chapel was rebuilt once again in 1861. A project for a new bell tower, dating from 1866, apparently did not come to fruition. The existing bell tower does not have the same shape as the one shown in these drawings. Two works of art dated 1870 suggest that the current bell tower was created at that date or shortly after: a painting kept inside the church showing a procession scene in which the chapel is still depicted without a bell tower and the statue of the Virgin and Child still surmounting the bell tower. The western facade must have been remodeled at the same time. Two dated postcards allow us to place the construction of the canopy attached to the sacristy between 1908 and 1910, as well as a lean-to, of which nothing remains today.
Cf. https://dossiersinventaire.maregionsud.fr/dossier/chapelle-notre-dame-du-roc/7131f371-b2bd-452b-b5b0-2e26f14bfdb9