From the XNUMXth century, Europe was covered with a "white cloak of churches". Robust and moving in their simplicity, these churches thus reflect the spirit of Romanesque art.
From this period, the ruins of the priories of Saint Michael of Nahuze as well as miracles, old outbuildings of the'Lagrasse abbey, as Saint Martin of the Wells, who is the jewel of the first Romanesque art in Corbières Minervois. Although very modest in terms of volume and plan, its single nave opens onto the choir, through a horseshoe arch, revealing the fabulous XNUMXth century frescoes.
In Corbières Minervois, you can still admire buildings with solid walls pierced with small splayed windows, and stone vaulted or framed. The bedside tables are circular or flat, as in Saint-Martin-de-Gasparets.
Dated from the XNUMXth century, Saint-Martin d'Escales is a very fine example of Romanesque art in Corbières Minervois, with its vaulted apse in the bottom of an oven with three apses, decorated with Lombard bands, and whose small windows are enhanced with a fine black basalt bead. Thus, the decoration plays on the quality and the colors of the stones.
In Fontjoncouse, Sainte-Leocadie has the particularity of being built against the medieval ramparts and is integrated into the defense of the village. You will be struck by the elegance and sobriety of its Romanesque semicircular portal, built with limestone from the country, of a lighter shade than the other parts of the church.
Finally, lose yourself for a moment, at the entrance of this wild valley ... In the heart of the Corbières vineyards, Saint-Felix de Castelmaure, seems to be waiting. You will be touched by the rigor of its steeple wall, pierced with a small cruciform window and the atmosphere of peaceful solitude that emanates from it. Of Romanesque origin, it was restored in the XNUMXth century ... if you wish to visit it, go through the door of the cooperative cellar of Embres et Castelmaure.
