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Origin and history

The Sainte-Marie Magdeleine church of Marnhagues-et-Latour, located 500 metres south of the hamlet on the Larzac causse, is a modest building with medieval origins. Its rectangular nave (7.70 m x 4.50 m), covered with tiles, contrasts with its narrower hemicycle bedside, built in the 12th century in sandstone, fitted and covered with lauze. Four foothills support the abside, while three bays in the middle of the hanger, one of which is murated and reopened in 2020, illuminate the space. The quadrangular bell tower, restored in 2022, dominates a structure where regular masonry (cheve, 1st level of the bell tower) and irregular (nave, upper levels) are mixed.

The chapel was first mentioned in 1184 as a dependency of the abbey of Vabres, according to the work of Jacques Bousquet (1994). The parish of Marnhagues, isolated and in decline, was attached under the Ancien Régime to that of Saint-Maurice-de-Sorgues, reflecting the gradual desertification of rural areas of Larzac. The south gate, adorned with carved buttons and damaged capitals (palmettes and interlaces), may not be in its original location due to the differences of apparatus with the wall. Inside, a triumphal arch in the middle of the hanger separates the carpented nave (the 19th century flat ceiling) from the raised choir, vaulted in a cradle and closed by a stone balustrade.

Ranked a historic monument on February 14, 2024, the church includes in its protection the fence wall of the cemetery and adjacent parcels. A communal property, it retains traces of successive developments, such as a funerary liter painted on the north wall or a walled west bay. Its geographical isolation, accessible by a narrow stone path, and its architectural simplicity make it a rare testimony of rural Romanesque art in Occitanie. Recent restorations (clocher, axial bay) aim to preserve this heritage linked to the monastic and peasant history of Larzac.

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