The district of Jas-de-Bouffan

At the very beginning, Jas-de-Bouffan is considered as a Concerted Development Zone ZAC. Today, it has become a peripheral district located to the west of Aix-en-Provence. It did not get its definitive form until 1990 when it was just an initiate in the 1970s.

Jas-de-Bouffan hosts a town hall located in the Rue Charloun-Rieu. The village is among the most deprived one, a decision taken by the General Secretariat of the Interdepartmental Committee of Cities.

Where can his name come from? "Jas" means "sheepfold" in Provençal and "Bouffant" means "wind" or "blowing". The qualification evokes a priori the windy and lifted position of a "jas", that is what allowed the neighborhood to benefit from this name filled with mystery ...

How was the city born? Jas-de-Bouffan owes its construction to the support of Mayor Félix Ciccolini. In April 1969 he had the idea of ​​building 5,085 medium-sized accommodation, educational institutes, markets for commerce, a college, a sports stadium on 169 hectares of land.

In 1973, it was later considered as one of the neighborhoods that would be possible to foresee an urban extension. During this period, Jas-de-Bouffan marks the city that has undergone several changes over the years and has offered housing to the many Algerian repatriates.

A history links the village with the family of the painter Paul Cézanne. On September 15, 1859, Louis-Auguste Cézanne took possession of an agricultural land of 15 hectares, generally dedicated to viticulture. The estate bears the name of Jas-de-Bouffan and it was bought in the 18th century.

The residence of the Cézannes, rehabilitated by Louis Granel, is today one of the most famous houses of the district. It is currently owned by the town hall of Aix-en-Provence. Its huge garden and outbuildings are accessible to the general public.