Montgeard, a royal bastide in Lauragais

2 km from Nailloux, Montgeard is a country house founded by the king of France Philippe V dit le Long in 1317. Who could believe that this small village of 500 inhabitants today was once, in the golden age of pastel, a big city renowned throughout the Lauragais?

Visit and enjoy ...

… Charm and calm in the streets of the village! Small in size, it is nonetheless interesting: the lover of old stones (or rather here, of bricks) will not remain insensitive to the historical heritage that composes it: a beautiful mansion and an impressive XNUMXth century church.

Walk through the narrow streets that intersect at right angles: they are typical of bastides, these villages built in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries to rebuild the county of Toulouse, devastated by the crusade against the Albigenses also known as the Cathars (1209-1229).

Did you know?

Built entirely in brick, Montgeard is truly typical of a village in the south of Toulouse. Even the names of the streets are engraved on fairground bricks ! But why do we qualify the bricks as “fairgrounds”?

La fairground brick has very specific dimensions (5,5 x 22 x 37 cm for 8 to 9 kg). It is therefore easily manipulated for the builders of the past. The word “fairground” comes from the Latin “foraneus” meaning “which comes from outside”. Indeed, brickyards were always located outside towns and villages.

IMAGINE THE GREATNESS OF THE PAST

Montgeard, an important town in Lauragais in the XNUMXth century?

We realize it when we enter the church and discover the font : all in Carrara marble, it was brought back from Pisa (Italy) in 1516 by a pastel merchant, Jacques de CaussidieresAnother treasure to admire: the alabaster sculptures dating from the XNUMXth century from Nottingham (England). Alabaster looks like limestone, but it is softer and therefore more easily carved.

These works of art are four in number. Rectangular in size, they were once nested one inside the other and formed a large panel adorning the front of the altar.

During the French Revolution, the altarpiece was dismembered to protect it more easily from the destructive madness of the revolutionaries.

Today these alabaster panels are scattered in the four corners of the church, sealed in the walls. It's up to you to find them!

Finally, to not lose anything during the visit, take a detour via the chapels bordering the nave of the church: on the ground are inlaid tombstones. These last remind us that the pastoral merchants of the village were buried in the church which they had partly financed with their personal fortune.