Basilique Saint-Just de Valcabrère

Valcabrère

Standing alone in the fields, it seems frozen outside time, facing the hilltop city of Saint-Bertrand.

Rising alone in the middle of the fields, opposite the hilltop city of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, this Romanesque basilica was built largely with reused materials from the neighbouring Gallo-Roman site of Lugdunum Convenarum, ancient columns and capitals included. A niche is set beneath the sarcophagus placed on the high altar: sick pilgrims would come and lie there at night to pray in contact with the relics of a saint. Excavations in the surrounding cemetery uncovered a pilgrim's grave containing a scallop shell and a staff, confirming that the site was a stage on the roads to Compostela.

Getting there : Listed as a monument historique (historic monument) in 1840; cemetery gateway registered in 1926; standing alone in the plain, free admission

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

Ambient sound