Commandery of Les Canabières

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Commandery of Les Canabières, in Salles-Curan, is the oldest Hospitaller foundation in the Rouergue: it was established in 1118 when Adhémar, Bishop of Rodez, granted the church of Sainte-Marie des Canabières to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem. Its territory extended to the castles of Canabières and Laclau, as well as to dependencies at Aboul, Tauriac and Saint-Martial; the commander exercised high justice there and levied taxes as feudal lord. The church, built in the 11th–12th centuries in the Romanesque style using schist, was enlarged in the Gothic style in the 15th century using sandstone; it retains 12th-century limestone vaults, exceptionally rare for that period, pointed-arch doorways and carved liturgical wall niches. The commandery building, whose right-hand section dates from the 12th century and whose central section was rebuilt in 1890, retains 12th-century cellars that are open to visitors.