The foundation of Les Vans dates back to the XII century. It experienced a period of strong expansion in the XIX century, thanks to silkworm breeding and silk weaving. The historical silk mill (rue du Couvent) has now been transformed into a museum and it hosts an archaeological collection from the area and a geologic one, an exhibition on the olive tree and a permanent one dedicated to an important figure of the village: Léopold Ollier, pioneer of orthopaedic surgery. In the town centre there is the parish church of St-Pierre-ès-liens (XVII-XVIII cent.), a protestant temple (1824), a wash-house of 1851 in place de la Fontaine, and remarkable buildings of the XV-XVII centuries.