Under the protection of the the Simiane-Agoult family, agriculture, trade and glass-making, which in Provence began in Simiane in the 15th century, flourished, and the village became prosperous. Rich families built fine houses. Mullioned windows, carved stone lintels, diamond-shaped decorations on the wooden doors along the paved narrow flower-decorated streets are witness to the aristocratic or wealthy bourgeois rank of the glass-makers, lawyers and surgeons who prospered here between the 16th and 18th centuries. One example is the imposing 17th century portal of the “Ostau Montjallard”, with its pilasters, its sculpted frieze and balustrade. Among the artists’ galleries and craft workshops selling a wide variety of work, ranging from traditional pottery to contemporary art, are the covered market, with its fine 16th century colonnade, and the unusual bell-tower of St. Jean. The adjoining church no longer exists. The top of the bell tower was destroyed by a thunder bolt in 1897. However it still chimes the hours.