Saint-Pierre de Nogaret

The village of Saint-Pierre de Nogaret

In the foothills of Aubrac

This charming little village has a rich heritage. Here you’ll find a Romanesque stone church with a square bell tower complete with spires and belfries. The church’s chevet is full of poetry, with its five Romanesque windows, columns with capitals and carved pink sandstone rubble under the cornice. Numerous crosses and the village bread oven are also part of Saint-Pierre de Nogaret‘s ancestral heritage.

The commune of Saint-Pierre de Nogaret is 14 km long and 5 km wide. It lies between the Lot Valley and the Monts d’Aubrac. The now abandoned village of Nogaret, just south of Saint-Pierre de Nogaret, was the seat of the Mandement de Nogaret.

The Mandement de Nogaret

Over a long period, from the Middle Ages to the Revolution of 1789, Saint-Germain du Teil, along with the present-day communes of Saint-Pierre de Nogaret and Trélans, formed the Mandement de Nogaret. This was attached to the crown of the King of France as early as 1258. It extended from Mailhebiau to the Lot Valley. It was made up of small cultivated plateaus and steep-sided valleys with dwellings accessible only by narrow paths. As such, it was virtually impregnable to invaders, and played an important defensive role, particularly in controlling traffic routes from Rouergue and the hinterland to the Lot Valley.

The Hamlet of Nogaret

Seat of the Mandement de Nogaret

Not far from Saint-Pierre de Nogaret, the village of Nogaret once stood on the banks of the Doulou in a deep valley. The site would have included a dozen dwellings, a mill, three bread ovens and a Marian chapel. The feudal castle that was the seat of the Mandement de Nogaret has long since fallen into ruin. At the time, the village had a population of around one hundred, today only a handful…

The Nogaret chapel

Before 1307, there was already a Marian chapel, built above the castle. In 1427, Pierre Rigal established a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Thomas of Cantorberry. Around 1772, the building collapsed, and in 1775 a smaller chapel was rebuilt to house the wooden statue of Notre-Dame, removed from the collapsed church. Ancestral worship and pilgrimage were resumed until the French Revolution, when the chapel was closed and the statue hidden in a grotto by a local woman. She died without revealing her secret, and when the chapel was reopened it was without the statue. It was found by chance and placed back in the chapel, but in an advanced state of deterioration, it had to be replaced by an oak statue of the Virgin. In 1875, a larger chapel was built, with the same dimensions as the 14th-century one. In 1895, the vault collapsed again, but the sanctuary was restored thanks to members of the association “Les Amis de la Chapelle Nogaret”. Every year, at the beginning of September, it hosts a pilgrimage in honor of Mary.

Prepare your stay at

Aubrac village