Mas (Provencal Farmhouse)

A Mas (pronounced 'mah') is a traditional farmhouse in the Provence region of France.

A mas was a largely self-sufficient economic unit, which could produce its own fruit, vegetables, grain, milk, meat and even silkworms. It was usually constructed of local stone, with the kitchen and room for animals on the ground floor, and bedrooms, storage places for food and often a room for raising silkworms on the upper floor. Not every farmhouse in Provence is a Mas. A mas was distinct from the other traditional kind of house in Provence, the bastide, which was the home of a wealthy family.

The mas of Provence almost always faces the south, to offer protection against the Mistral wind. There are no or very narrow windows on the north side to protect against the heat of summer and the winter cold. A mas is almost always rectangular, with two sloping roofs. The mas found in the mountains and in the Camargue sometimes has a more complex shape.

Among the different kinds of mas in Provence, there are two characteristic types:

The mas of Luberon has the form of a long rectangle, or sometimes an L shape. A stairway, often in the center, leads to a corridor on the upper floor, usually on the north side of the house, which opens onto the bedrooms. The upper floor also has space for storing forage for the animals and grain, and for the raising of silkworms. The room where the silkworms were raised was called the magnanerie.

The mas of the Camargue is strongly influenced by the climate and the environment, and resembles a Spanish hacienda, with large spaces, what walls, an interior court and buildings in the form of a U for the residence and stables.

The size of a mas depended upon the wealth and number of its original occupants; from 150 square meters to over one thousand square meters, including the barn and other structures. As the family grew larger the mas would be made longer to accommodate them. When is mas is small, and is occupied by a single family with a small area of land, it is called a mazet, or little mas.

The mas was always built of inexpensive local materials; stones or wood from the area. The walls of the mas along the River Durance were made from river stones; those of Gordes of limestone, and those of Roussillon of red stones and clay.

In recent years the traditional mas of Provence have become much sought after and transformed into expensive homes and holiday homes.

Bibliography

Livet, Roger, "Habitat rural et structures agraires en Basse-Provence"

Massot, Jean-Luc,"Maisons rurales et vie paysanne en Provence"

Sources and Citations

This article is an edited translation of the article in the French Wikipedia, [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mas_%28construction%29]