History
Jean Buridan climbed the mountain early in the fourteenth century; Petrarch (accompanied by his brother) repeated the feat on April 26, 1336, and claimed to have been the first to climb the mountain since antiquity. This claim has been widely repeated since.
The 15th century saw the construction of a chapel on the top, dedicated to the Holy Cross.
In 1882, a meteorological station was constructed on the summit, though it is no longer in use. This observatory was planned in 1879, along with a carriage road for access. In the 1960s a 50m-high telecommunications mast was built.
Read more about this topic: Mont Ventoux
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)