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Origin and history

The chapel of Saint-Nazaire-de-Marissargues, located 1 km southeast of Aubais in the Gard, finds its origins in the eighth century as a Carolingian church. It was then surrounded by a large cemetery with 1500 anthropomorphic rock graves, the oldest of which date back to the 8th and 6th centuries. The excavations (2001-2004) led by Mathieu Ott revealed that these burials, used over 250 years, probably originated from surrounding farms, suggesting parish status despite the absence of clustered habitat. The absence of written sources from the Carolingian era leaves a doubt about this function, but the prolonged use of the cemetery accredits this hypothesis.

In the 11th century, a priory dependent on the Benedictine abbey of Psalmodi (Saint-Laurent-d The medieval texts mention Aubais under the names of Albais (1095), Albassium (1125), and Albatium (1155), confirming the donation of the church to Psalmodi by the bishop of Nîmes before 1125. The priory, initially a monastic dependence, evolved into a fortified priory before being abandoned in the 15th century. Burials, rare from the 11th to 11th centuries, cease permanently at this time.

The present chapel, which has been redesigned several times, preserves traces of 14th century frescoes. A house or hermitage was joined to the south between the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as evidenced by the classical portal dated 1782. The west façade, in stone-cut bells, has a triangular pediment bell, while the flat bedside, partly Carolingian, retains alternate seats of local molasses. The site, registered with the Historic Monuments in 2016, dominates a medieval north-south route from Calvisson to St.Lawrence-d-Aigouze, offering a view to the Mediterranean.

The caveyard, exceptional by its size, was used until the 15th century. The anthropomorphic tombs with cephalic lodges, dug in the rock, reflect Carolingian and medieval funeral practices. The excavations also revealed superimposed murals, some of which could date back to the 14th century. Today, the chapel and its archaeological remains (parks B 1682 and 1683) are protected in their entirety, including the soil and adjoining structures.

The building is part of a landscape of wooded garrigue, accessible from Aubais by the road of Aigues-Vives and the road of Saint-Nazaire. Its initial isolation, far from a clustered habitat, and its supposed role as a gathering place for the surrounding rural populations make it a rare testimony of the religious and funeral organization of the High Middle Ages in Occitanie. The subsequent architectural changes (prieuré, hermitage, portal of the eighteenth) illustrate its evolution over the centuries, between worship, defense and hermitage.

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