Rocamadour, in the Dordogne valley east of Bordeaux, is one of France’s top tourist attractions, but unlike most other tourism Top Of The Pops entries, it has enjoyed success for centuries .
If visitor numbers had been measured in the Middle Ages, Rocamadour would have surpassed that statistic year after year, centuries before its competitors in today’s popularity contests were a glitter in architectural history – 500 years before the construction of Versailles, almost 1000 years old. before the Eiffel Tower saw the light of day in the City of Lights.
Why Rocamadour has been the top pop for a thousand years
From the beginning of the Middle Ages to modernity, the sanctuary carved into the stone of Rocamadour was one of the main places of pilgrimage in Europe, visited by crowned heads as well as ordinary citizens. Most visitors came here in search of a cure for an illness: at a time when medicine as we know it did not exist, a pilgrimage to a holy site often seemed the most promising option.
Rocamadour’s fame dates back to the discovery of the undecomposed corpse of a hermit which immediately turned to dust when transported to a cemetery in the valley below. This, the medieval mind concluded, was clear proof of the powers residing in the mountain – reports of which had apparently been circulating since prehistoric times.
There are many places where one can read about all this, the legend of the Black Madonna, the sword of Roland and the mysteries that swirl around the towers like the black predatory birds of the Alzou valley…
…we are therefore going to focus on something else today by offering you three short but interesting walks that you can undertake in the immediate vicinity of the sanctuary.
And to reflect the particular nature of Rocamadour, these walks embody a trinity of motivations: one historical, one picturesque, one spiritual.
Hospitalet in Rocamadour
To begin, we will take a short trip to the village of Hospitalet, a little over 1 km east of the Sanctuary. In the Middle Ages, l’Hospitalet was the place where pilgrims could relieve their pain and seek treatment: not for the ailments they hoped their pilgrimage would cure but for those they had contracted during their journey – fractures, wounds. infected, exhaustion.
Today, only ruins remain of what must have once been a busy place.
Two routes lead from the Sanctuary to l’Hospitalet: one is the Voie Sainte, essentially the uphill extension of the medieval main street of Rocamadour…
… the other the “high road” which starts at the upper level of the whole of Rocamadour in front of the castle. This is the slightly longer path but also the least physically demanding, as it winds slowly downhill.
There is, however, one thing in common between the two routes: both offer magnificent views of the rock with the sanctuary and the castle.
The Stations of the Cross
The whole of Rocamadour is made up of three levels: at the bottom is the Medieval Citythe old main street, from which 261 steps lead up to the sanctuary with its series of shrines, all of which are then topped by the castle.
Many visitors climb the stairs from Level 1 to Level 2, then take the elevator for the final stretch or forgo this part of the complex altogether.
This is a mistake, because they miss one of the most beautiful parts of the rock, full of delightful twists and turns and panoramic views of the valley below.
Medieval pilgrims did not have this possibility: this section was not developed until the 19th century. First the modern castle (1841) then, a few decades later, the Stations of the Cross which start from the sanctuary.
It includes 14 stations, the first 13 of which are small chapels with relief sculptures that commemorate Christ’s path to Mount Calvary.
Station No. 14, the Entombment, was dug directly into the rock for the grand theatrical finale of the walk.
After that you can climb one more staircase to the castle. You cannot visit the interior of the building but take a look at its gardens from the ramparts which are the only remains of the first castle built here in the 14th century.
Alchemy
Most of you probably don’t know that Rocamadour holds a unique place in the ancient art of alchemy. Most modern people associate alchemy with trying to turn ordinary materials into gold, but that was only one aspect of it.
Alchemy is best understood as a comprehensive theory of universal change, transmutation, and transcendence – any earthly benefits to humans, material (precious metals) or physical (medicine) were considered mere side effects.
The main concern of alchemy was the transformation of energies. The energies of Rocamadour were accepted as given (the evidence was considered indisputable), so the alchemist’s first task was to locate them.
It was believed that the energies of the site were concentrated in the Saint-Michel chapel which had been built under the place where the sword of Roland embedded in the stone of Rocamadour is located. (The legendary warrior Roland, mortally wounded during the Battle of Roncesvalles against infidel intruders, had asked the archangel Michael to send his equally legendary sword Durendal back to his native France, and that is where it finally landed .)
Alchemists believe that St. Michael’s Gate, located below and behind the ornate exterior walls of St. Michael’s Chapel, is “the door that must be passed through,” a door that leads the visitor into another world.
This is not the only local source of mysterious energies, however. To find the complement of the portal, go down the stairs to the Medieval City and turn right into rue Coustoulau…
…continuing to the bottom of the valley.
Cross the stream in front of you and turn right into the forest. After a few hundred meters, you will arrive at a source: the Fontaine Berthiol.
Try to spot salamanders in the area: apparently these black lizards with yellow spots, a common symbol of fire in the Middle Ages, are (or at least once were) quite numerous here.
This is also what first alerted the alchemists to the source: the presence of these “fiery” animals seemed to indicate the reunification of the opposing forces of fire and water. Such reconciliation of natural forces was considered one of the keys to the reunification of the human and the divine, of man and God, the ultimate goal of all serious alchemists.
This may all seem a bit silly and surreal to the modern mind, but alchemy was a serious attempt to address what its practitioners believed to be the root cause of man’s fundamental unhappiness in this world: his estrangement of God.
Modern projects to understand the fabric of reality are far less heroic – and perhaps, a thousand years from now, will be considered just as stupid. Who knows?
Finally, some practical advice. Of all the major tourist destinations we visited, Rocamadour is by far the most difficult to reach by public transport. You can travel by train, but Rocamadour-Padirac station is approx. 4 km from the village and not served by any means of public transport. (A bus, line 876, runs every 4 hours.)
The country road between the town and the station does not make for a pleasant, or even safe, walk: there are neither sidewalks nor public lighting. To get a ride you have to order a taxi in advance and be prepared to pay the flat rate of €35, a lot for such a short trip but you have no choice. (We were told that there are no commercial taxis in Rocamadour: all taxis are apparently under contract with social services, and available taxis must come from the surrounding small towns and villages.)
But all this trouble and extra expense will be amply rewarded by the magic of Rocamadour. It’s a unique place, whether or not you can relieve the arthritis in your toes – or find yourself transformed by the energy of the mountain on a deeper level of your soul.
