Saint Loup Church of MARSA

The church of Marsa is dedicated to Saint Loup.

The Romanesque bell tower probably dates from the 11th century. It is quoted in texts of 1208, 1338, 1347).

Its bell tower is more recent (XVII century)

This thousand-year-old church has passed through time and time, but at the dawn of the twenty-first century, its state of obsolescence would require a restoration that has become indispensable. The municipality of MARSA become too small (50 residents including ten permanently), following the rural exodus of the twentieth century, can not assume alone this burden.

This unusual church dominates the village of Marsa.
Its baroque bell tower is from the seventeenth century (listed in the inventory of monuments of France), but the nave is older. It dates from the 13th century. A construction is reported around the tenth century. It depended on the Abbey of Joucou, then the chapter of the collegiate church of Saint Paul de Fenouillet. A document from the 1550s tells us that the inhabitants of the surrounding hamlets, as well as those of Quirbajou, had the right to come and take refuge in Marsa during wartime.

Today, this monument, however reported in the heritage of Romanesque architecture of the Aude, would require a major restoration. It is pierced with openings of shooting, archers arranged under the roof
It was a fortified church. At the end of the Middle Ages, the church and the pate, houses that surround it probably formed a fortified ensemble.
Marsa, which did not have a real castle, was therefore organized, around its church to resist the outbreaks of violence, frequent at that time, especially the episodes of the Albigensian Crusade in the 13th century and, then the various incursions of Spanish troops who devastated these countries until the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) definitively fixing the French border

CURRENT STATE OF THE CHURCH
Whether outdoors or indoors, this building has suffered the ravages of time, helped by a lack of maintenance and conservation that must be put to the account of several municipalities that have succeeded each other. who have not been able to implement a minimum of works and this for several decades.

This church has never been restored since January 17, 1892 .... Urgent work is needed. Currently a study file made by an architect specializing in classified monuments is in progress, but, whether at the level of the General Council of the Aude or Languedoc Roussilon Regional Council, any grant has been refused ...

This church has never been restored since January 17, 1892 .... Urgent work is needed. Currently a study file made by an architect specializing in classified monuments is in progress, but, whether at the level of the General Council of the Aude or Languedoc Roussilon Regional Council, any grant has been refused ...

Only the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Montpellier (DRAC) has given a favorable opinion to provide financial assistance, if however the local authorities also make their contribution ...

Should we wait for the building to collapse so that these communities finally take this testimony of the architectural and historical heritage of the Upper Aude Valley into consideration?

To know more about the church (its history, the particumarities of the building ...) click here