Dômerie d'Aubrac

Saint-Chély-d'Aubrac

The plateau of Aubrac is, in winter, one of the harshest passages on the way from Le Puy: snow, fog, not a tree. Between 1108 and 1125 a Flemish lord, Adalard, gave a piece of land to the abbey of Sainte-Foy of Conques to found a hospital there; according to a late tradition, he had made this vow after nearly perishing in a blizzard on his way back from Compostela. The house soon escaped Conques: in 1162 Pope Alexander III took it under his protection and the bishop of Rodez gave it a rule inspired by Saint Augustine. It is called the dômerie, because a "dom" governs it; there lived priests, brothers for the service of the poor, ladies for the nursing, donats for the lands, and a few knights who escorted travellers on the road. At the beginning of the 14th century a hundred and twenty brothers and thirty sisters were at work there. The bell "of the lost", Maria, rung on nights of snow and fog, bears the inscription errantes revoco, "I bring back those who have strayed"; broken by the Leaguers in 1595, it was recast in 1668 and again in 1772. In 1353, during the Hundred Years' War, Dom Durand Olier had the Tour des Anglais raised. Held in commendam from 1437, dispersed in 1791, sold in 1793, the dômerie has left only its church, its tower and one building of the hospital, planted in the pastures; the path that leads to it from Nasbinals has been on the World Heritage list since 1998.

Wikipédia — Dômerie d'Aubrac ↗

Getting there : By the D 987 from Nasbinals or Laguiole, or by the D 19 from Saint-Chély-d'Aubrac (about 8 km in each case); parking in the village. The church is open during the day. The stretch of the GR 65 from Nasbinals to Saint-Chély, on the World Heritage list, passes in front of the church.

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

Ambient sound