Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The college of Quézac, now known as the Church of Our Lady, finds its origins in a legend of the eleventh century. According to this tradition, a labourer discovered a statue of the Black Virgin by tracing a furrow in her field. Despite his attempts to move it to the church of Javillet, the statue systematically reappeared at its original location. This miraculous revelation would have led to the construction of a first oratory on the spot around 1052, quickly attracting pilgrims and favoring the installation of a prion-secure. The building became a place of Marian devotion, although the parish seat initially remained in Javillet, 2 km away.

In the 14th century, under the impulse of Pope Urban V, originally from the region, the priory was erected as a collegiate and fortified between 1365 and 1367. This project was part of a desire to improve the reception of pilgrims, including the simultaneous construction of a bridge over the Tarn. The college housed eight clerics (six canons, one dean and one sacristan), and benefited from papal indulgences to finance this work. The southern porch, dated from the end of the 14th century thanks to its architectural characteristics (torical rib vault, prismatic piles), still bears the traces of the coat of arms of Urbain V, today mutilated.

The Wars of Religion marked a violent turning point for the college. In 1580, Huguenot Captain Matthieu Merle and his troops looted and burned the building three times, causing major destruction. Partly rebuilt, it suffered further damage during the French Revolution: suppression of the collegiate and the hospital, looting, and degradation. In the early 19th century, Ursuline sisters occupied the site before a fire ravaged the buildings in 1841. The porch was classified as a historical monument in 1930, followed by the inscription of the rest of the church in 2017.

In the 20th century, the college underwent notable restorations, such as interior decoration by frescoes and paintings in 1925. The former hospital, integrated into the whole, was transformed into private residences. Today, the site bears witness to nearly a thousand years of history, mixing medieval legend, defensive architecture, and Marian devotion, in a setting marked by the Gorges du Tarn.

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