Haut-Languedoc Regional Natural Park
Cultural heritage Haut-Languedoc Regional Natural Park
The Haut-Languedoc is known to have been inhabited since the late stone age. Painted caves, menhirs, menhir-statues, dolmens and rock carvings bear witness to this prehistoric settlement across the entire region.
Towards the year 1000, the Haut-Languedoc was marked by a considerable urban revival. Many abbeys were built, as in Burlats, Villemagne l'Argentière, Sorèze and Saint-Pons-de-Thomières. This is the time when thousands of pilgrims would have walked the Chemin d'Arles via Saint-Gervais, La Salvetat, Anglès and Castres en route towards Santiago de Compostela.
This was followed by the troubled times of the crusade against the Albigenses and the Wars of Religion that defined the Haut-Languedoc as a land of conviction, refuge and resistance.
The Pastel saga followed by the construction of the Canal du Midi supply network in the Montagne Noire announced the industrial development of the 19th and 20th centuries. This dynamism, often directed by the protestant bourgeoisie, developed in the smaller valleys, where textile mills, tanneries and fellmongers, among others, were set up. The Haut-Languedoc, the land of water, it marked by a strong hydraulic heritage made up of mills, beals, pesquiers, roadways, etc.
Dry stone is also used in the region for all its applications: walls, capitals, sécadous... and shapes the landscape.
