Saint-Côme-d"Olt is ten miles--up one hundred and down six hundred meters from Saint-Chely d'Aubrac, so a good day's march, and I figure we will stop there for our next night. This is the first of the charming villages through which we will be walking during this stretch of our pilgrimage, one of the "plus beaux villages de France"--one of the most beautiful villages in France
The private association of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France was founded in 1982 to promote rural economies (aka, tourism) and preserve France's cultural heritage. The 159 villages that have been certified have met the stringent criteria of 1) fewer than 2000 inhabitants, 2) at least two historic monuments, and 3) a local commitment to preserving the local heritage (which includes providing support for tourism--restaurants, accommodations, sights.)
It can be a mixed blessing, this designation as a plus beau village. Some villages have been overwhelmed by tourists. The wife of a former mayor of one of these villages observed that "we live in a beautiful place, but we can no longer see the beauty." A few villages have withdrawn from the association as a result. In a place like the Aveyron, however, far, far from major tourist destinations, the threat of being overwhelmed by tourists is much less than the certainty of dying for lack of local economic opportunities. Tourism brings dollars to a local economy and certain kinds of amenities--places to stay, restaurants, entertainments.
The historic monuments in Saint-Come d'Olt include a 14th century château right in the heart of the village, around which the village grew up. Home of the noble Castelnau family for at least 700 years, today it serves as the hotel de ville, the town hall. The interiors of the towers and chapel contain rare and interesting decorative vestiges, and, as you can see from the photo of the great hall, some of it has been also modernized with that wonderful French flair. It was a home for elderly priests during the 19th century, and some of the modifications made at that time are irreparable.
A second historic monument in Saint-Côme-d'Olt is the church of Saint Cosmas which faces the château across a tree-shaded parking lot. Built in the 15th and 16th centuries, the church has a remarkable twisted steeple on its bell-tower--a flame, if you will--as well as other ecclesiastical treasures.
A third historic monument is a church located on the route of Saint-Jacques de Compostelle near Saint-Côme-d'Olt. Constructed as an infirmary in the 11th and 12th centuries, it served as the parish church of Saint-Côme-d'Olt until the 16th century when St-Cosmas was built. Then, in the 18th century, the dilapidated building was given to a religious lay order, the confraternity of penitents blanc, who restored it. The obligations of the members of the penitents blancs include caring for the sick, burying the dead, providing medical service for those unable to afford it, and giving dowries to poor girls--so in many ways consistent with the work done by the monks of Aubrac. Today it serves as a community hall, but discussion are under way to make it a museum.
A fourth listed monument in Saint-Côme-d'Olt--actually in the neighboring hamlet of Levignac--is the ~12th century portal de Levignac, the door and tympanum of a now-vanished church. The portal is on private property, so I am not sure we can see it, but whether we see it or not, it has an interesting history. Levignac was a Gallo-Roman town, and the birthplace of St Hilarion, a martyr born in 760 AD (and the patron saint of Espalion, the town we will reach next.) The original church may have had a connection to him.
From the 12th century to an unknown date--probably the Revolution when so many churches were quarried--the church was a priory run by the monks of Aubrac. It was another infirmary for pilgrims; excavations done in the crypt after the church was destroyed found skeletons buried with Saint Jacques shells. The church was dismantled in the 19th century, the portal alone saved through the efforts of local preservationists.
Saint-Côme-d'Olt has other treasures, too--an unusual ring of houses-a circulade--formed as houses were constructed against the old chateau fortifications, the footings of a 16th century bridge, two or three ancient city gates, and an Ouradou, a kind of oratory, that was constructed in 1586 after a plague killed 75% of St-Côme's population.
I love these little towns in France in which one can "see" the layers of history--in Saint-Côme-d'Olt, hints of Gallo-Roman settlement (Levignac), early church history & pilgrimage, the history of feudal lords (the Castelnau family) who built their fortress here, the reminder of the plagues that devastated medieval and renaissance France, andeven the Revolution (in the absent church, no doubt sold off to raise money for Napoleon's wars), and the efforts of early preservationists to salvage France's heritage.