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Saint Guilhem le Désert
A legendary village, at the heart of a preserved valley.
During the summer, visit the village in the morning when there are less people and it is calmer, you will appreciate its treasures more...
The Spring and Autumn are marvellous here when the light and nature plays with the light and our emotions...
The months of winter, when the sun is a little more frail and nature sleeps, the serenity of these places will remain with you forever...
This valley where Guilhem retired in 806 after having founded the Gellone Abbey, was a true desert where only shepherds and Neolithic people had frequented before.
Surrounded by stone vertiginous cliffs to which thyme, oak and pine cling, this landscape of stone and sky is enchanting. At its heart is the legendary village of Saint-Guilhem, which appears like a true oasis.
Along the 'Verdus' stream, her old streets stretch beneath the Languedocian sun for nearly twelve centuries. Houses built one upon another, roofed by tiles imprinted by the sun and the weight of years, are not all striking, but carry always a trace of their past: arcatures, lintels, geminated windows...
Developed around the Gellone Abbey, the village has conserved its medieval identity and constitutes an ensemble of rare harmony.
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Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert counts among the Plus Beaux Villages (most beautiful
villages) of France, and is classed, since 1999 a Great National Site.
To try to uncover it, is to take a pilgrim's stick in hand and to cross the inner path, traversing its narrow streets .
The Abbey of Valmagne
In 1139 Raymond Trencavel, Viscount of Béziers founded the Abbey of Valmagne in the Parish of Villeveyrac, near the port of Mèze on the "Bassin de Thau". From the XII th. to the XIII th. Century, Valmagne was one of the richest abbeys in South of France.
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Originally Valmagne was founded under Benedictine order but, in 1159, the monks joined the Cistercian movement.
The early days of the abbey constituted a period of great prestige, growing wealth and expansion, and then Valmagne suffered from the effect of the Hundred Years Wars, and later of the Religious Wars. The attack of the Hugenots in 1575, organised by Valmagne's own abbot, gone into the Reformation, was a real disaster. Badly damaged, all the stained glass of the roses and clerestories were for ever broken, and the abbey needed the next two centuries to recover some of its original splendour.
At the Revolution in 1789, the last five monks fled just ahead of rebellious peasants who invaded and ransacked the abbey, burning precious documents, funiture and works of art. Confiscated as a national property, the abbey was sold in 1791 to Mr Granier - Joyeuse who turned the church into a vine cellar, with addition of big vats in the nave and absidals chapels, preventing by this use this magnificent edifice from becoming a stone quarry, as so many abbeys.
The 29 th. of July 1838, following the death of Mr. Granier, the abbey and its dependencies were sold, this time, to the Count de Turenne, and still remains in the possession of his descendants.
The actual church in classical Gothic style was begun in 1257 on the foundations of the original Romanesque chapel, which had become too small for the ever-increasing number of monks. Inspired from the great cathedrals of the North of France; it has 83 meters long and 24 meters high.
The cloister has the exquisite charm of the Tuscany's garden, with the Chapter House and its ribbed voult, witness of the presence of the monks since the XII th. century, and its elegant and magnificent fountain bringing the most pure and fresh water from the spring of Diane.
Open to the public since 1975, Valmagne is well known to all archaeologists and lovers of old monuments. The restoration of the abbey is permanent, new bells have been put back in the steeple. The owners have won many prices in recognition for the work done to restore the Abbey.
Classed as Historical Monument the site is open to the visit every day in summer and the afternoon in winter.
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