Église Saint-Félix de Ropidera

About

The Saint-Félix de Ropidera church (Catalan: Sant Feliu de Ropidera) is a Romanesque fortified church located in the deserted medieval village of Ropidera, on the territory of the commune of Rodès, in the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales. Built in the 12th century, Saint-Félix Church may have been abandoned in the 15th century, but remains the seat of a cure until the 18th century. Set on the steep edges of a plateau overlooking the Tet River, Saint-Félix Church is 15 metres long for five wide.

The vault in the cradle of its unique nave collapsed, as did a part of the vault in the cul-de-four of its apse, after the gradual abandonment of the village of Ropidera at the end of the Middle Ages. The location of the church, slightly south of the border between Spain and France fixed in the Treaty of Corbeil of 1258, led the authorities to have a high watch tower built above its apse at the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century. From this tower remains an angle of about fifteen meters high.