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  2. Patrimoine
  3. Occitanie
  4. Ariège
  5. 09290 au Mas-d'Azil

  6. Protestant Temple

Protestant Temple dans l'Ariège

Ariège

Protestant Temple

    14 Rue du Temple
    09290 au Mas-d'Azil
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Temple protestant
Crédit photo : Chatsam - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1560
Installation of the first pastor
1625
Royal headquarters and destruction
1685
Revocation of the edict of Nantes
1762
Execution of Protestant martyrs
1804
Purchase of the old Catholic church
1824
Inauguration of the current temple
1938
Link to UNEPREF
2015
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The Protestant Temple in its entirety (Cd. 198); the facades and roofs of the adjoining presbytery, containing the remains of the former abbey and the ground of the plate plot B 199, as shown on the plan annexed to the decree (in red for the temple, in blue for the presbytery, in green for the ground of the plot): inscription by order of 14 October 2015

Key figures

Bernard Perrin - First Protestant Pastor Settled at Mas-d'Azil in 1560.
Frères de Grenier (Henri, Jean, Joachim) - Good men-glass martyrs Executed in 1762 for heresy.
François Rochette - Travelling Pastor Sentenced and hanged in 1762.
Paul Rabaut - Protestant Pastor Intercede for Grenier's brothers.
Napoléon Ier - Emperor of the French Organizes the Reformed Churches in 1802.
Charley Case - Belgian Artist Author of the 2013 fresco.

Origin and history

The Protestant temple of Mas-d'Azil, inaugurated in 1824, is housed in an ancient Benedictine abbey of the village. It replaces a first place of worship destroyed after the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. The current building, rectangular (27.80 m by 11 m), incorporates medieval remains such as the abbey's lazaret. Its inauguration marks the official revival of local Protestantism after the persecutions.

Prior to the Revolution, Le Mas-d'Azil was nicknamed the "little Geneva in Foix County" because of its strong Protestant community, composed of peasants, glassmakers and bourgeois. In 1625, the city resisted royal troops during Huguenot rebellions, but its fortifications were razed after the peace of Alès. The revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 resulted in the destruction of the temple and prompted the faithful to organize clandestine cults in nearby caves.

The persecution culminated in 1762 with the execution of the brothers of Grenier, gentleman-glassmen, and Pastor François Rochette, condemned for heresy. These martyrs, among the last of the Reformed faith in France, symbolize anti-protesting repression under the Ancien Régime. Their memory remains linked to the history of the temple, which became after 1802 the seat of the Protestant Consistory of Ariège.

In the 19th century, the Protestant community, with 7,000 members in Ariège, bought and renovated the former Catholic church in 1804 and built the current temple between 1820 and 1824. In 1938, the parish joined the National Union of Reformed Protestant Churches, refusing to join the Reformed Church of France. An abstract fresco inspired by calligraphy was added in 2013.

Ranked a historical monument in 2015, the temple retains architectural elements of the medieval lazaret and chapel of 1673. Its adjoining presbytery, covered with a long-paned roof, houses these remains. The site illustrates the persistence of Ariegian Protestantism, marked by centuries of resistance and adaptation.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum