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Origin and history

The church Notre-Dame-des-Vertus de Paulhan, located in the Hérault department, finds its origins in an act of 990 mentioning Ecclesia S. Marie de Pauliano, then attached to the Abbey of Saint-Thiberry. This place of worship, implanted on a path to Compostela, was rebuilt from the second half of the twelfth century, with a Romanesque nave followed by a polygonal apse completed in the thirteenth century. A square bell tower, pierced by broken arches, was added in the 14th century above the nave, while a dome pavilion (18th century) collapsed after a fire, leaving room for an octagonal lantern in 1859.

The excavations revealed an ancient past: a temple dedicated to Ceres (first century), Christianized in the fourth century under the name of Our Lady, then destroyed by the Sarrazins in the eighth century. Two Benedictine chapels followed before the building of the present church, whose rostrum of the White Penitents (1742) marked the assignment to a brotherhood in the 18th century. The building, classified in 1987 for its choir, thus illustrates a historical stratification from antiquity to modern changes.

Architecturally, the seven-sided bedside, adorned with curved bays and modillons, contrasts with the nave at the massive foothills and the southern gate buried below the ground level. The western facade, topped by a mess, incorporates the medieval bell tower and its 19th century lantern. These elements reflect the successive adaptations, from medieval pilgrimages to the liturgical needs of the brotherhoods, in an initially peripheral site, away from the city centre.

Mentioned as Rectoria de Paolhano in 1323 and then Cure de Paulhan in 1760, the church depended on the Archpriest of the Puget. His bosses, B.M. Virtutum and Exaltatio S. Crucis, emphasize his spiritual role in an area marked by Benedictine influences and jacquarian roads. The protection of the choir in 1987 consecrated its heritage value, mixing Romanesque, late Gothic heritage and post-medieval interventions.

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