A Jacobean heritageto preserve

Curiosities on the roads to Santiago

The Pays d’art et d’histoire Figeac, Vallées du Lot et du Célé is crossed by three paths leading to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. Along the main route, the voie du Puy and its variants, the voie du Célé and the voie de Rocamadour, many monuments and testimonies of the past invite us to discover. Some of these major cultural elements are listed as World Heritage by Unesco such as the Pech-Laglaire II dolmen in Gréalou overlooking the Causses du Quercy, the Saint-Jacques hospital in Figeac, as well as two sections of trail from Montredon to Figeac (18 km) and Faycelles to Cajarc (25 km) classified for the quality of their preserved landscapes and the small heritage.

Of chapels

in chapels

Many chapels located along the Voies de Saint-Jacques are an invitation to discover ancestral devotions and secret heritage properties:

GR65: the Notre-Dame-de-Pitié chapel, a 16th-century piéta in Montredon
GR65: the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Guirande chapel in Felzins with its early 16th-century murals
Near GR65: Notre-Dame du Mas-du-Noyer chapel in Faycelles, devotions around a statue of the Virgin following an apparition in the 15th century
GR65: the Mariners and Capelette chapels in Cajarc
Close to the GR 651: Notre-Dame du Roc-Traoucat chapel in Sauliac-sur-Célé with the Black Virgin in a troglodytic chapel

Espagnac Sainte Eulalie © Lot Tourisme C. Novello 151023 165030

Marcilhac-sur-Célé et les falaises de la vallée du Célé

The great

monuments

Similar in size to its mother abbey Sainte-Foy de Conques, the parish church Saint-Sauveur in Figeac welcomed the prayers of monks and the devotions of many pilgrims in the Middle Ages. An architecture marked by Romanesque and Gothic art offers us characteristic elements such as sumptuous 11th-century Romanesque capitals or a 13th-century chapter house, Notre-Dame de Pitié, adorned with majestic Baroque decoration.

A Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie, nestled in the hollow of a meander of the Célé, the priory Notre-Dame de Val Paradis from the 12th century is crowned with an exceptional bell tower: a square turret made of wooden half-timbering, topped with a pyramidal roof made of lauzes. The priory hosted about a hundred nuns, Augustinian canonesses.

Dominated by high golden cliffs, the Benedictine abbey of Marcilhac-Sur-Célé gave birth to the village in the tenth century. This rich monastery acquired a monumental complex organized around a cloister in the 12th century. Very powerful in the 11th century, the abbey was ruined twice by wars. It has retained part of its ramparts, a high square tower as well as imposing Romanesque capitals.

The dolmen of Pech Laglaire

in Gréalou

Situated on one of the highest points of the causse de Gréalou, between the Lot and Célé valleys, the dolmen of Pech Laglaire II is surprising. This megalithic monument, listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco is located on the GR®65, on the section of trail from Faycelles to Cajarc, listed under the same title.

This dolmen, of the Caussenard type, presents a sepulchral chamber that is quadrangular and retains its two orthostats, its chevet slab and its cover slab. Its dimensions reach more than 3 meters long and about 1.50 meters wide. This lithic monument is located near a stone road cross probably of medieval origin.

Situated 200 meters further south, the dolmen of Pech Laglaire III is still in its tumulus.

Dolmen De Pech Laglaire Gréalou Gr 65 © Lot Tourisme C. Ory 140912 090834

Super-Cayrou

in Gréalou

In Gréalou, Super-Cayrou welcomes you on the hill of Pech Laglaire. This dry-stone art-refuge is the first of the “Windows on the Landscape” open-air art trail on the GR®65.

From there, breathtaking landscapes, from the cliffs of the Célé to the Cantal Mountains… and the promise of incredible nights under the starry sky of the Causses du Quercy.

Travel diary Windows on the landscape

Saint-Jacques Hospital in Figeac

Unesco World Heritage

Once a place of charity on medieval pilgrimage routes, the Hôpital Saint-Jacques is today a classical-style building constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries, organized around a vast courtyard of honor, over which also rises a chapel rebuilt in the mid-19th century, preserving medieval remains. In the Middle Ages, the Saint-Jacques hospital, also called the Aujou hospital, was one of the five establishments in Figeac dedicated to hospitality and Christian charity. This former hospital remains the active Hospital Center of Figeac and is therefore not open to visit.

Beaulieu Hospital

in Issendolus

In Issendolus on the road to Rocamadour, marked GR®6, a priory of dames hospitalières of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem welcomed from the thirteenth century to the Revolution, the sick, the destitute, and pilgrims on this route linking the shrines of Figeac to Rocamadour. Today, the Beaulieu hospital is in ruins but retains its Chapter Hall from the 13th century.

Sainte Fleur, a nun of the hospital in the 14th century, to whom many miracles were attributed, is now venerated in the church of Issendolus.