From March 25th to 27th, 2011, Biot will transform for the 3rd edition of “Biot and the Templars.” The theme of the event focuses on Medieval Craftsmanship to discover the trades of this period and to learn the ancestral techniques that are the origin of our current know-how. “Biot and the Templars 2011” is more open to Europe than ever by inviting Italian and German Templar troops, who, like the 9,000 commanderies present in the West in the 13th century, will set up their camps in the city center for a re-enactment of Templar life and its medieval daily life.
Conferences, Templar and knight tournaments, raptor demonstrations, falconers, artisans of yesteryear, fire shows, torchlight parades, storytellers and troubadours, medieval games, playful animations, and medieval culture initiations: the 2011 edition offers a quality program, faithful to history, and entirely free with many new features and nearly 200 artists and craftsmen.
A unique highlight of this edition will undoubtedly be the Sound and Light Enkindling of the city, “The Legend of the Templars,” a colorful spectacle that will delight young and old for the opening of the festivities. To fully participate in the festival, visitors are expected to dress in costumes in the Templar city, starting Friday, March 25th, at 6:00 PM for the launch of the event.
HIGHLIGHTS 2011
The “Sound and Light” Enkindling of the city
The entire city will light up with the arrival of the Templar troops! The Sound and Light Enkindling of the city, “The Legend of the Templars,” will undoubtedly be the unmissable event of this 3rd edition. A grand opening of the festivities on Friday evening, March 25th, to be enjoyed from the Equestrian Camp of Fontanette.
Historical Reenactments
Once through the gates of the Commandery of Buzot (the medieval name of Biot), a meticulous historical reproduction will plunge visitors 800 years into the past.
Stalls of the medieval market, Templar troop camps and troubadours, taverns for feasting, guilds, humble peasants, tournament horses and high-flying raptors, gentle ladies and valiant knights will take over the streets and squares for three exceptional days to recreate medieval life of the 13th century.
Tournaments and Knightly Jousts
This year do not miss the reenactments of combats mixing foot soldiers and knights where riders and Templars will compete to defend their lands, not forgetting the jousts, tournaments, and equestrian agility games and the medieval falconry shows.
Craftsmanship of Yesteryear
The village of artisans will pay tribute to these magicians of material who, since the Middle Ages, have built, consolidated, and beautified our daily lives. In the alleys of the Historic Center, they will set up their workshops, kilns, anvils, lathes, and forges to carve stone, melt metals, strike coins, turn jugs and pitchers, mill grain and bake bread, illuminate manuscripts, create seals and crests, and blow glass.
The torchlight parade on Saturday evening will remain a major highlight of the event with the solemn welcome of the Knights of the Order of the Temple by visitors who will be guided by the sound of drums to the Equestrian Camp of Fontanette to witness a fire show followed by a medieval ball around a huge bonfire.
The Conferences
In the majestic setting of the church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine, renowned medieval history speakers will share the results of their research on the Templar theme. Karim Haoui will trace the stages of Templar historiography in Biot, and the City of Biot will also have the immense honor of hosting Damien Carraz, a lecturer at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, a specialist in the military Orders of Provence. His Italian counterpart, Simonetta Cerrini-Alloisio, will detail the theme of “The Knight of the Temple and the Sacrificed Horse,” while Jean Lechaczynski, President of the Biot Glass Ecomuseum, will present his research on “Glass in the Time of the Templars.”
Initiation to Medieval Culture
Fun workshops, initiations to medieval culture such as archery, calligraphy, dance, or even a treasure hunt will allow some to test their bravery and virtue while others will be carried away on musical airs from another time. Around each corner, the public will only have to listen to discover the picaresque and chivalric tales of troubadours.
Throughout the Event
Nearly 200 artists and craftsmen will perform in Biot from Friday to Sunday, March 25th to 27th, in a completely reconstructed medieval setting in the alleys of the Historic Center. Templar camps, troubadours, jugglers, wandering musicians, demonstrations, activities, and workshops for both children and adults so everyone can leave dazzled by these memorable moments spent in Biot.
Medieval Market in the Historic Center
Mead, herbalism, leather and silver jewelry, shields, swords, old-time shoes, medieval dishes…: more than 40 exhibitors, selected for the quality of their work, are to be discovered in this nearly authentic medieval market: colorful, fragrant, lively… a delightful place to stroll.
Medieval Craftsmanship: Skills of Yesteryear and Now
Biot, proud of its Art Trades, had to pay tribute to these magicians of material who for centuries have continuously improved our daily lives.
We return to the 13th century, where on the Crusade path many Templars were attached to the fiefs of Buzot. New builders, they called upon various trades to erect what became the 3rd Templar commandery in Eastern Provence and to supply the needs of a territory that throughout the 13th century expanded to finally occupy, in 1308, the current surface of Biot lands: stonecutters, blacksmiths, carpenters, potters, illuminators, stained glass makers, and early glass blowers busied themselves to construct castles, churches, and buildings allowing monastic prayer life and knightly training… While millers, bakers, weavers, farriers, falconers, squires, and archers competed in expertise and perfected a craft in full swing in the Middle Ages.
Today, in the streets of the old castrum of Buzot, our virtuosos will install their workshops, kilns, anvils, lathes, and forges to carve stone, melt metals, strike coins, turn jugs and pitchers, mill grain and bake bread, illuminate our manuscripts, create seals and crests, and blow glass!
Museum of History and Biot Ceramics
An exhibition of original 13th-century manuscripts describing daily life in Biot at the time of the Templars will be offered. These parchments come from the departmental archives of Bouches-du-Rhรดne and are lent to understand firsthand what an archive, a manuscript, and a trace of history preserved for 800 years is. A moment always very moving to share at the Museum of History and Ceramics, where admission will be free throughout the event.
