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- 28.10.2024 klo 11.42
- ☁️ 57 °F
- Korkeus: 1 660 ft
- RanskaOccitaniaSaint-Bertrand-de-CommingesMusée archéologique départemental43°1’38” N 0°34’12” E
St Bertrand medieval village
28. lokakuuta, Ranska ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
Saint Bertrand de Comminges Valcabrère
is a commune (municipality) and former episcopal see in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("The Most Beautiful Villages of France") association.
In 406, Saint Jerome wrote that the Roman General Pompey, while on the way back to Rome after a military campaign in Spain, founded a Roman colony there, presumably to defend the passage to the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees and the Iberian peninsula. However, extensive archaeological investigations have failed to find any evidence of this. The colony, built on the valley floor below the current hilltop village, was named Lugdunum Convenarum. This Roman town dates from the Augustan period and had reached around 30,000 people at its highest point. It belonged to the Roman province of Novempopulana and had a growing Christian community, which by the late fourth century got its own Diocese of Comminges, which was suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eauze. It is claimed to have been the place of exile from 39 AD of Herod Antipas, with his wife Herodias, under Emperor Caligula's orders, although this is based on an unclear point in Josephus. In 405 the Vandals sacked the city and forced the peasantry to move to the citadel.
Bertrand de l'Isle was canonised and became known as Saint-Bertrand in the 13th century and Lugdunum Convenarum became known as Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. The term Comminges itself comes from the Latin word "Convenae", meaning "those who came together" at Pompey's new settlement.
In addition to the former cathedral, the village has a Romanesque basilica as well as Roman ruins. There is an archeological site close to the Cathedral in which it is possible to identify the remains of a Roman thermae and of a theatre.
The village itself is a medieval one, with several arches and vaults. It has several gates entering it; on the Cabirole Gate it is possible to read about the tax set by Louis XIV on fish. Another gate, the Majou Gate, is interesting in that it is the one pilgrims used. Following the ramparts it is possible to observe the Matacan Rock from which, according to the legend, Gondoald had been executed by Gunther.
We enjoyed our time in this unique gorgeous village. Onto Lourdes!Lue lisää