Chapelle Saint-Laurent de Moussan, chapel located in Aude, in France
Chapelle Saint-Laurent de Moussan is a pre-Romanesque chapel built of irregular light tan and grey stones, with a flat chevet and a steeply pitched gable roof. Its west facade has a single narrow round-topped window and a portal with a white marble lintel bearing two round holes. Inside, a horseshoe arch on carved Carolingian imposts separates the nave from the rectangular choir, where a stone altar stands before a small round-topped window.
Built between the 6th and 9th centuries as the church of a Gallo-Roman estate, the chapel reused stones from the villa Trencianum. It was later placed under the chapter of Narbonne cathedral and became a stop for monks travelling between the Cistercian farm of Fontcalvy and Fontfroide abbey. Repaired in the 17th century, when a hermit's dwelling was attached, it was restored from 1965 by the Comité Saint-Laurent and listed as a monument historique on 27 December 1966.
The name Mouniélou, or "small priory", recorded on the Cassini map of 1763, recalls the hermitage attached to the chapel's south side. The building later served pilgrims and monks travelling between the Cistercian farm of Fontcalvy at Ouveillan and the abbey of Fontfroide. The Comité Saint-Laurent, formed in spring 1965, bought the land and rebuilt the collapsed sections from old photographs.
The chapel stands alone among fields and vines 1.7 km southwest of Moussan, not in the village, near the D69 road toward Névian; reach it by car or on foot along country lanes. The interior is unlit apart from three small unglazed openings in the choir, so visit in daylight. The floor is uneven stone and the doorway is closed by an iron grille.
The white marble lintel over the west door, 1.70 m long with two round holes, was removed in the early 20th century and used as a culvert to reach a vineyard. It was put back in place during the 1965 restoration. Its origin is debated: a Gallo-Roman threshold, an architrave from a portico, or marble facing from the Capitole of Narbonne.
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