Our Blog - Limoux, France

Historians believe the name Limoux comes from limosus in Latin, meaning "muddy" or "silty". Not sure whether this is talking about the land (muddy land due to the river) or the people :-) The town has been occupied since the Neolithic period, and a charter from 844 attributes the city to the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire (the first mention of the town in historical documents).

The vineyards around Limoux are famous for being first create the sparkling wine known as Blanquette de Limoux, which is produced around the city. The main grape of the wine is Mauzac, followed by Chardonnay and Chenin blanc. Wine historians believe that the world's first sparkling wine was produced in this region in 1531, by the monks at the abbey in Saint-Hilaire. Blanquette is similar to Champagne (sparkling wine that can ONLY be produced in the Champagne region of France), Crémant (sparkling wine produced in a variety of places in France, Luxembourg, and Belgium), and Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine from the Prosecco/Glera grape and named for the village of Prosecco).

The city is fairly well-preserved, with 15th century mansions, old houses (some dating from the Renaissance), and old streets. Limoux straddles the River Aude and the banks are lined with grand houses, especially on the eastern side, the so-called Petite Ville. For example this house on rue Blanquerie, with the lovely Gothic-pointed arches and carved heads on the façade.

There are 3 bridges crossing the Aude, including Pont Neuf, which is a fortified bridge placed on the Aude in 1327. It is a bridge with angular beaks with six arches.

The heart of the town is the Place de la République, a wide square with some fine stone arcading and a number of timber framed houses. It is a covered square dating from the 15th and 18th centuries. This square is very picturesque because it is covered with arcades on three sides. It has an old market and a lovely fountain (no water as it was January).

The Church of St. Martin dates to the 12th century, mentioned in a document from 1120, and was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. The spire was rebuilt in 1777 after being destroyed by lightning and the arches and vaults of the nave were restored in the 19th century. It contains a reliquary statue of Saint Martin in silver and vermeil of the 15th century. The church belonged to the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Hilaire (nearby), then passed after a long conflict to the Dominicans of Prouille. We grabbed the first picture, showing the back part of the nave, from Pont Neuf as we crossed the bridge.

The interior is much less ornate as the interior of the Basilica Notre Dame de Marceille (which you will see next) or the Cathedral Saint-Maurice in Mirepoix. It consists of a triple nave with 7 equal spans, the first 5 are Romanesque (if you look really closely at the last arch you can see to the left, and compare to the ones on the right, you can see how the 5 on the right have 2 rows of stone border while the last one you can really see has only 1 and is a bit pointy, as it is Gothic. The carved wood canopy in the high altar dates from the 18th century.

The chapel of Saint Lucie, who is the saint for December 13th in the Calendar of Saints. There is a lovely statue of Saint Lucie and a painting of the Raising of Lazarus, a miracle of Jesus recounted in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life four days after his burial.

The stained glass windows are fairly modern although they were well-designed to fit into the church. The ones you can really tell are modern are the ones that have a more pastel palette. Again, we caught a nice day with the sun shining through.

The organ dates back to the middle of the 18th century although the carved wooden support was created between 1740 and 1742.

This is the marking in the entry of the church to the water level in a flood of 1820.

Heading out of town, we stopped at the Basilica Notre Dame de Marceille cited from 1137, whose current building dates back to the 14th century. It is built in the Languedoc Gothic style and is the center of an ancient and very popular pilgrimage in the region.

The interior is highly decorated, with the walls, ceilings, and vaults painted.

The one statue that I took a picture of was that of Saint Germaine of Pibrac ... partly because Pibrac is a village close to Toulouse. She was only 22 when she died, having lived a pretty miserable life. She was quite poor and yet, shared her food with other poor people. She is represented in art with a shepherd's crook or with a distaff; with a watchdog, or a sheep; or with flowers in her apron.

A little note about Toques et Clochers. We had seem a couple posters about this, which seemed to be some yearly event. Then at this last church, we saw a plaque which talked about renovation of the church thanks to this event. Toques et Clochers is a charity auction, part of the profits of which goes to the renovation of the 42 bell towers of the villages in the Limoux appellation area (appellation being wine types), thus helping to preserve the local historic and architectural heritage. Each year, a village is selected to host the popular festival gathering nearly 30,000 people and celebrate the renovation of its church. Toques et Clochers started in 1990 and is organized yearly by the Sieur d'Arques, a cooperative winery.

This was Lucy's 2nd overnight-away-from-home trip, and she seemed to not be too concerned that everything was new! She found a few nice grassy areas to play in. The video is pretty short, and shows her cow tendancies, eating flowers!