Prieuré Notre-Dame de l'Oder et son arbre légendaire

Ambialet

At Ambialet, the Tarn traces one of the most spectacular meanders in France: the river travels three kilometres to return within thirty metres of its starting point. At the top of this peninsula, a Romanesque chapel of schist has kept watch since the 11th century – a sanctuary is mentioned here as early as the 8th century, in the days of the rock's garrisons. Around 1057, Bishop Frotaire gave the place to the Benedictines of Saint-Victor de Marseille, who established a priory there. But the true singularity of the site lies in a tree. On the path climbing to the chapel grows a phillyrea (Phillyrea media), a Mediterranean shrub that has become here a venerable tree about four metres in girth. Tradition tells that a crusader knight brought it back from the Holy Land and planted it below the priory terrace; from the 12th–13th centuries, the sanctuary took the name of Notre-Dame de l'Oder – "auder", the Occitan name of the tree – and the priory's coat of arms bore "an auder vert on a field argent". Pilgrims liked to pick a branch of it to keep at home for protection. Restored between 1950 and 1965, the chapel has recovered the purity of its Romanesque masonry and houses a polychrome Virgin of the Louis XV period. The circuit of the peninsula by the Ambialade path rounds off the climb magnificently.

Getting there : Village of Ambialet (D74, Tarn valley, 20 km from Albi). Climb on foot by the chemin du prieuré. Chapel open every day from 8 am to 7.30 pm, free admission.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound