The top of the Gour Noir rock in Auvergne (central France) was a place where druidic ceremonies were conducted. Around Year 900, Benedictine monks searching for a locale to establish a priory, selected this place, both because it offered some degree of natural protection against assailants (those were the times of Norman invasions, coming up the Dordogne river), and because the region was still largely pagan and needed some significant reinforcement of the Christian faith.
It was seriously fortified, one of the important priories of the region, yet it was taken in 1379 during the Hundred Years War by French mercenaries paid by the English, and only retaken in 1391, whereupon all fortifications were destroyed, so that history would not repeat itself. Only the Saint Pantaleon chapel was left, with religious outbuildings. The chapel is all that is left today. It stands in silence in this place, heavy with memories of centuries and millenia gone by...
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14–30mm, ƒ/4 S lens. Handheld.
