The routes to Santiago de Compostela

The pigrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the resting place of St James, run through all of Europe. Languedoc-Roussillon has two of them …

Historic Route South France, Languedoc-Roussillon

Around the year 813, the tomb of the Apostle, St James, was found at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. For more than 1000 years, vast numbers of Christians have made pilgrimages to the town. Coming from all over Europe, the pilgrims took four main routes: Paris/Tours, Vézelay, Le Puy and Arles. The last two routes cross Languedoc-Roussillon. They are among the most fascinating walking tours Europe has to offer, passing some of the most famous religious landmarks of France.

- The Arles Road was the route for Italian and Provencal pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, and also the route taken by many travellers from the Iberian peninsula to the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome. Pilgrims from southern Germany and central Europe also used the road. In Languedoc-Roussillon, several places on the route became popular staging posts, along what is now the Chemin de Grande Randonnée (GR 653).

- The Via Podiensis or the road from Puy-en-Velay to Roncevaux passed through high Gévaudan in Lozère (now the GR 65). The stretch between Puy en Velay and Conques crossed the Margeride and Aubrac mountains. The route is dotted with churches and priories which fed, housed and cared for the pilgrims, as well as dispensing sacraments. The road from Saint-Alban to Hopital d’Aubrac was marked by the milestones of Fournes, Brion and Nasbinals. Of all the mountain ranges, the Aubrac mountains were the most feared by pilgrims, even more than the Pyrenees, because of the terrible storms in the Gévaudan region. The ‘Lozerian’ road led to Notre-Dame des Pauvres d’Aubrac.

The routes to Santiago de Compostela were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1998.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION :

Office de Tourisme de Saint-Gilles (in French)
Tel : 33 (0)4.66.87.33.75
1 Place Frédéric Mistral
30800 SAINT-GILLES
Office de Tourisme de Montpellier
Tel : 33 (0)4.67.60.60.60
30 Allée Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
34000 MONTPELLIER
Office de Tourisme de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
Tel : 33 (0)4 67 57 44 33 et 33 (0)4 67 57 58 83
2 rue Font du Portal
34150 Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

 

Saint-Gilles abbey church

The vast and sculpted facade, illustrating scenes from the Passion, was carved in the mid 12th century and was a very influential piece of architecture in the region...

The foundations of this abbey church were begun in the 9th century. Set in the heart of a prosperous town, it was a famous place of pilgrimage up until the 13th century. In the 12th century, the building was enlarged. The lower church - the crypt - is well preserved and contains the tomb of Saint Gilles. The upper church has been damaged and rebuilt many times. The vast and sculpted facade, illustrating scenes from the Passion, was carved in the mid 12th century and was a very influential piece of architecture in the region. Another remarkable work is the Saint Gilles screw, a beautiful spiral staircase fashioned out of stone, which also dates from the 12th century.

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

Gellone Abbey, founded in 804 by Saint Guilhem, is one of the jewels of early Romanesque architecture in southern France...

The cult of relics in the Christian Church is as ancient as the veneration of saints, and assumed great importance in the Middle Ages. People turned to the saints to reach a too-distant God. A saint would interceded on their behalf or protect them. After a saint died, this contact was replaced by the touching of his relics. Mediaeval Christians believed in the miraculous power of these relics and believed that touching them would cure illness and perhaps bring permanent protection. A monastery, church or abbey like the one in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, which housed a famous relic, quickly became a place of pilgrimage. Gellone Abbey, founded in 804 by Saint Guilhem, is one of the jewels of early Romanesque architecture in southern France. The Benedictine monastery houses a fragment of the True Cross given by Charlemagne to Guilhem, as well as the relics of Saint Guilhem. It became an important centre of pilgrimage from the 10th century onwards.