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Origin and history

The Sainte-Marie de Torreneules church, located in a valley of the Alber massif on the town of Argelès-sur-Mer (Pyrénées-Orientales), is a preroman building today in ruins. Mentioned for the first time in 844 in a trial sentence, it belonged to a medieval hamlet (or that one), prior to the founding of Valbonne Abbey. Its architecture, with a central nave closed by a rectangular apse and semicircular lateral naves, probably dates from the ninth century, although the lateral apses are slightly posterior.

Until the 13th century, the church depended on the territory of Saint-Cyr de Colera Abbey (now Spain). Then sold to the Cistercian Abbey of Fontfroide, it was attached to the abbey of Valbonne, founded nearby. To avoid the redundancy of two sanctuaries dedicated to Saint Mary, it was restored to Saint Michael. Used until the 18th century, it was gradually abandoned and almost completely destroyed in the 20th century by an explosion during a military exercise.

The remains, now covered with vegetation, suggest its original plan. Traces of medieval murals, missing, suggested an interior formerly decorated. The building illustrates Catalan pre-Roman architecture, with local influences like rectangular abside, a rare feature. Its history reflects the religious and territorial dynamics of the High Middle Ages in the Eastern Pyrenees.

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