Our Blog - Vals, France

About an hour from Toulouse is the little village of Vals, little being the main word, with less than 100 people living there. Mind you, the population is actually growing since it was down to 54 people in 1968! There isn't much there, other than a rock church. Unfortunately for us, there was only a small section open (this is what happens when you try to go to tourist places in January).

The church is called Church of Notre Dame de Vals and it is a mysterious and unusual group of buildings carved out of a huge boulder. Accessible via a staircase built through a cleft in the rock, the building consists of two naves on top of each other and houses Romanesque frescoes depicting episodes from the life of Christ. The foundations of the church date back to at least the 10th century (end of the Carolingian period). Here you can see the main entrance and get an idea of the boulder.

As you enter, you can see a holy water bowl carved out of the rock and the small staircase in a natural crack in the stone.

And then some pictures of the lower level, which was the only thing open. You can see part of some of the frescoes, which date to the 12th century. The colors used are basic shades: white, red, yellow, black that can be broken down into different shades, corresponding respectively to lime, hematite, ocher, and carbon black. Discovered in 1952 under several layers of coatings, they were cleaned in 1956. Their last restoration was carried out from 2006 to 2008.

We aren't exactly sure what this is, which is behind the church (along with a cemetery), but we assume it is something old :-)