Tour de Sanary

The fortified Tower of Sanary, which was at the origin of the development of the village of Saint-Nazaire, dependent on Ollioules, was built around 1300, and in 1436, King René, King of Provence, ordered the construction of a ditch and a boulevard for access and defence purposes. He armed there and maintained a small garrison. Soon the "gaste" (uncultivated) lands around the tower were built. In 1704, the ditch was filled in and sold in lots on which houses were built. Some, leaning on the walls of the tower, barely leave access to it.
The tower is 21 metres high and 8 metres wide. The walls, with an average thickness of 2 metres, therefore leave a free space of approximately 16 m2 per level. Privilege seigneurial, the dovecote, is established within the walls of the vaulted room on the top floor.
Long abandoned, the Tower, known as "Romanesque" or "Saracen" in the local tradition, was restored by the municipality and opened to the public in 1990. It is the setting for collections of underwater archaeology (DRASSM deposit), including a very rare skeleton from the 3rd century BC discovered in Les Embiez.