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Origin and history

The parish church of Saint-Blaise, located in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, has its origins in the 12th century as a castral chapel. This first building, oriented east-west, reflected the Romanesque architecture typical of the period. The village, for its part, seems to emerge around this religious and defensive core, without a known history before this period. The region, marked by a network of ponds (Berre, Citis, Po), provided a strategic framework for the development of a community organised around places of worship and protection.

At the beginning of the 15th century (circa 1405), Archbishop Arles authorized the construction of ramparts around the village, consolidating its defensive and urban role. This period marks a turning point in local history, with continuous growth of homes, many of which remain today. The most notable rise, however, occurred in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, when the church underwent a major transformation: the Romanesque nave was integrated as a span of an enlarged building southward, reoriented according to the classic canons. A five-sided choir and a bell tower, built near the old choir, complete this architectural metamorphosis.

The Saint-Blaise church thus illustrates two hinged periods: the Middle Ages with its castral chapel, and the modern period with its baroque enlargement. Its inscription as a Historic Monument in 1992 underlines its heritage value, both for its stylistic evolution and for its anchoring in the urban history of Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts. The communal property today makes it a central place for local memory.

The geographic context, dominated by ponds, probably influenced the region's economy and trade, while the church, first a place of seigneurial worship, became a symbol of the growing parish community. The houses preserved in the 17th century bear witness to this prosperity, linked both to fishing activities and to the affirmation of a village identity.

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