The castle that dominates the village of Gordes with the Saint-Firmin church has never been occupied by the local lords. Besieged in vain during the French Wars of Religion of the 16th century, it served as a prison, granary for harvests, and relay for the garrisons before being integrated into the life of the village by welcoming, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, a bar, a school, the post office, a pharmacy, and the town hall. The castle of Gordes also housed the Vasarely Museum from 1970 to 1994 and a museum dedicated to the contemporary Flemish artist Pol Mara from 1995 to 2011.