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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint-Laurent de Lattes church, located in the Hérault region of Occitanie, is a Romanesque building built in the 12th and 13th centuries. It illustrates the Romanesque architecture of transition, with a facade and a bedside entirely made of opus monspeliensis, local technique alternating stones laid flat and on field. This monument bears witness to the historic importance of Lattes, a former commercial port in Montpellier, which was named after 1114 (Terminium de Latis).

The bedside, composed of a semicircular apse and an apsidiole (the second having disappeared in the seventeenth century), is decorated with pilasters, apsidial windows connected by a protruding cord, and carved modillons. The remarkable western facade features an oculus topped by seven ravens, featuring heads of animals and men, two crowned. These elements, as well as the apse, have been classified as Historical Monuments since 22 July 1913.

The nave, rebuilt in the 17th century after the destruction attributed to the wars of Religion or a Lez flood, contrasts with the Romanesque parts. The southern façade, in stone, and the traces of original vaults (lamps at the corners of the choir) reveal the transformations undergone by the building. The church, owned by the commune, remains a major example of the Languedoc Romanesque heritage, marked by Burgundy influences in its ravens.

The opus monspeliensis, rare in its extension to the entire facade and bedside, gives the church an architectural singularity. The materials (cut stone, tiles) and the decorations (model cornice, ground berries) underline its role in local history, between medieval heritage and modern adaptations. The sources (Wikipedia, Monumentum) confirm its partial ranking and its current address: 14 avenue de Montpellier, in Lattes.

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