Travel Guide The Cavalry

Before arriving at La Cavalerie, one must enjoy the typical landscape of Larzac, in which one has just set foot. Of course, today the military are as famous as the sheep, but the Larzac camp has ceased to stir passions and lives in good harmony with the village. This one was the seat of an important commandery. On this north-south axis, it added a welcoming role and commercial functions to the cultivation and development of the surrounding plain. La Cavalerie has always allowed travelers crossing the plateau to make a stopover. It is here that the Templars developed the village before the Hospitallers fortified it with a wall. Today, traces of this enclosure are still visible. You have to enter the village to find yourself at the foot of a long, high fortification wall, with a few rare windows. A tower and an imposing gate have long protected the 15th century houses - with their carved bays and doors - and the richer 17th century buildings. In the central square, the church was rebuilt in the 18th century on the remains of a Romanesque building. Its interior owes the purity of its lines to a vault that seems to have been built on the model of the Larzac sheepfolds. One can admire the reliquaries of Saint Roch and Saint Fulcran, bishop of Lodève. Guided tours or tours with an audioguide give access to a unique exhibition, called "Monnaies des Croisades", which tells the story of trade between the Crusaders and the Muslims from the 12th to the 14th century.