Stairways at Rennes Le Chateau, South of France.
Rennes-le-Château (Rènnas del Castèl in Occitan) is a commune in the Aude department in Languedoc in southern France. This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged buried treasure discovered by its 19th-century priest Bérenger Saunière, the precise nature of which is disputed by those who believe in its existence, because of the sheer diversity of conflicting theories. Mountains frame both ends of the region — the Cevennes to the northeast and the Pyrenees to the south. The area is known for beautiful scenery, with jagged ridges, deep river canyons and rocky limestone plateaus, with large caves underneath. Like many European villages, Rennes-le-Château has a complex history. It is the site of a prehistoric encampment, and later a Roman colony (or at least Roman villa or temple, such as is confirmed to have been built at Fa, 5 km ( mi) west of Couiza); being part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, the wealthiest part of Roman Gaul. Rennes-le-Château was part of Septimania during the 6th and 7th centuries, during the trying period when the Visigoths had been defeated by the Frankish King Clovis I, and during the 19th century was popularly considered to be the center of the county of Razès.[2] By 1050 the Counts of Toulouse held control over the area, involving a rapid increase of castles in the area, including the existence of a castle in Rennes-le-Château by around 1002,[3] though nothing remains above ground of this medieval structure – the present ruin is from the 17th or 18th century.[4] Several castles situated in the surrounding region in the Languedoc were central to the battle between the Catholic church and the Cathars at the beginning of the 13th century. Other castles guarded the volatile border with Spain.
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Photo credit: © David Hare / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: carcassonne, chateau, church, code, corbu, da, france, french, grail, holy, languedoc, le, magdalene, mary, occitan, railings, rennes, saint, staircase, stairs, stairway, steps, stone, vinci, ë
