Marvejols, Languedoc, guide de voyage

Visitez Marvejols gites : hotels : location des voitures | Decouvrir Massif Central

Marvejols is found in the Lozere department, of northern Languedoc-Roussillon, near Mende in the Massif central.

A quiet unassuming town, Marvejols well deserves a visit if you are in the region. Inside the stone entrance gates there are numerous interesting features and buildings to discover and explore - and plenty of 'information signs' to tell you what you are looking at (the tourist office have laid out a 'Henry IV' tour of the town).

It is an attractive medieval town with a colourful history during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of religion - much of the current town was constructed around 1601, after the original town was burned and most of the population massacred during the Wars of Religion. The three substantial stone entrance gates to the town remain as witness to these terrible events.

Marvejols is also well known for a more recent role in history - in the 18th century the so-called 'Beast of Gevaudan' slaughtered almost 100 people in the region surrounding the town, mostly children. Believed at the time to be the work of a wolf, it lasted several years before the killing finally stopped. There is a statue commemmorating the event in the town, and a few kilometres from the town is the wildlife park, 'Les Loups de Gevaudan' (The wolves of Gevaudan), where wolves can be seen living in semi-liberty.

The second statue, of Henry IV, proudly states 'executed in Marvejols, 1954'. It was the statue that was executed, not the King!

Marvejols: tourisme, carte, guide de voyage et gites