Rennes-le-Château : histoire, mystères et trésors de l'Aude
A village, a priest, and a hundred years of questions
Rennes-le-Château is a village in the Aude, perched at 500 metres above sea level, overlooking the upper Razès valley. Two hundred inhabitants, a Romanesque church, and a worldwide notoriety that rests entirely on the story of one man: Bérenger Saunière, parish priest from 1885 to 1917.
Arriving in a poor parish, Saunière restored his church, decorated it with a puzzling iconographic scheme, then had an estate built on the promontory with no equivalent in a village of this size: the Villa Béthania, the Magdala Tower, a belvedere and gardens.
Where did the money come from? The question has never received a definitive answer, and it is this very question that gave rise to the affair.
This site brings together what is documented and what remains hypothesis, without confusing the two. History places the facts back in the 19th century that saw them unfold, with a detailed timeline. Characters gives a voice to the people at the heart of the affair: Marie Dénarnaud, Abbé Boudet, Emma Calvé. Places describes the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church, the Magdala Tower, the Villa Béthania and the estate. Mysteries examines the theories, from the most credible to the wildest: trafficking in Masses, Visigoth treasure, parchments. Documents presents the archival pieces, reproduced and annotated.
