Rennes-le-Château

Rennes-le-Château is a commune of 80 people (2017). It is in the region Occitanie in the Aude department in the south of France.

Rennes-le-Château
Tour Magdala
Administration
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon
Department	Aude
Arrondissement	Limoux
Canton	La Haute-Vallée de l'Aude
Intercommunality	Limouxin
Mayor	Alexandre Painco (2014–2020)
Statistics
Elevation	272–568 m (892–1,864 ft) (avg. 435 m/1,427 ft)
Land area1	14.68 km2 (5.67 sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	11309/ 11190
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Rennes-le-Château Media

• 

  The château in the village, once in the possession of the Hautpoul family. The present building dates from the 17th or 18th century.

• 

  Visit of Socialist candidate François Mitterrand to Rennes-le-Château in the 1981 presidential campaign

• 

  Church of Saint Mary Magdalene

• 

  A Pediment decorated with a Memento mori Skull and crossbones figure above the entrance to the churchyard

• 

  Altar of Saint Mary Magdalene, it features a bas-relief of Mary Magdalene. At the bottom of the altar a Latin inscription (once lost, now restored), reads: Jesu medela vulnerum Spes una poenitentium Per Magdalenae lacrymas Peccata nostra diluas, that translates as "Jesus, remedy against all our pains, The only hope for the penitent, Through the tears of Magdalen Thou washest away our sins"

• 

  Tympanum of Saint Mary Magdalene

• 

  Latin inscription quoting Genesis 28:17 Terribilis est locus iste ("This place is terrible") above the church entrance

• 

  The Holy Water Stoup, surmounted by four Angels and featuring the inscription By that sign you shall overcome him and below, two Basilisks topped by the BS monogram

• 

  The figure of the demon Asmodeus supporting the Holy Water Stoup.

• 

  A Relief Fresco of the Sermon on the Mount