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Origin and history

The Collège Notre-Dame de Grace de Sérignan, located in the Hérault in Occitanie, is a religious building built from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. It initially depended on the abbey of Saint-Thibéry. Its architecture combines a Romanesque bedside (south absidiole) and a dominant Southern Gothic style, with a three-vessel nave and a seven-sided choir. The bell tower, a massive 30-metre tower, evokes a dungeon with its mâchicoulis protecting a Romanesque portal, reflecting a dual religious and defensive vocation. The stained glass windows, often replaced, were renewed in 1879 by the Mauvernay workshops, while the three current bells, melted in 1891 by Burdin-Aîné, sounded in Ré#3, Sol3 and La#3.

The interior reveals a stylistic evolution: the lower side, arched without keys, contrasts with the central nave covered with an apparent painted structure, restored after the collapse of a false brick vault in 1962. The capitals, decorated with Gothic leaves and hooks, and the prominent foothills of the bedside highlight the Gothic's typical vertical momentum. The organ, with electropneumatic transmission, dates from a later period. Ranked a historic monument in 1907, the college was also a place of pilgrimage as early as 1229, with defensive arrangements added in the 16th century, such as the stone arrow of the southern bell tower.

Historical sources mention a first church of Sainte-Marie since 990, which became priory of Saint-Thiberry in 1218. Rebuilt in stages from 1229, it illustrates the influence of French workshops in the choir, reproducing an imported model. The chapels, added between the 15th century and the modern era, complete this architectural complex marked by successive works. Today, as a communal property, the collegiate church remains a major testimony of Languedoc's religious and military heritage, combining spiritual, defensive and community functions.

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