Travel Guide Banassac-Canilhac

Along the Urugne river, the village of Banassac enjoyed remarkable economic prosperity in the first centuries AD. The Roman world became so enamored of red-glazed clay tableware (known as sigillata) that workshops were founded throughout Gaul. The largest in the region was at La Graufesenque, near Millau. Under its influence, the sites of Le Rozier and Banassac developed, where potters found clay, drawn from the confluence of the Urugne, the Saint-Saturnin stream and the Lot, wood to heat the kilns and resin to caulk the boats used to transport their production. As many as seventy potters worked in Banassac, producing ceramics with original designs alternating between lettering and floral motifs. Vases from Banassac have been found as far away as Pompeii, Morocco and Lebanon. During the Merovingian period, the technical and commercial know-how of Banassac's craftsmen found its way into the minting industry, with coins bearing the inscriptions Gabalorum (des Gabales) and Bannaciaco. Banassac has preserved its medieval church, built in the 12th century, and a 14th-century bridge spanning the River Lot. The town hall's small archaeology museum displays a few remains of ceramic vases. Today, Banassac-Canilhac brings together the two communes of Banassac and Canilhac, their hamlets and localities (there are eight in all, from Grèzes to Cantaronne and from Toutes Aures to Cantaronne, via Lescure) and their many heritage treasures.