Mas (Provençal farmhouse)

A mas (Occitan: [ˈmas], Catalan: [ˈmas]) is a traditional farmhouse found in the Provence and Midi regions of France, as well as in Catalonia (Spain) where it is also named masia (in Catalan) or masía (in Spanish).

A mas was a largely self-sufficient economic unit, which could produce its own fruit, vegetables, grain, milk, meat and even silkworms. It was 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 and Catalonia always faces to the south to offer protection against the mistral wind coming from the north. And because of the mistral, there are no windows facing north, while on all the other sides, windows are narrow to protect against the heat of summer and the cold of winter. 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.

In Catalonia, the tenant of a mas is called a masover (pronounced: [məzuˈβe]), as different from the real landowner.

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 centre, 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 (see sericulture) was called the magnanerie.

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