Malegoude: History, Landscape and GR®78

Malegoude brings together local history, the Church of Sainte-Marie, the Razès de Mirepoix landscape area and the GR®78 pilgrimage route. To help plan your trip, you can distinguish between these topics by scale: from an individual church building to the landscape and the long-distance trail.

Landscape and Views

Malegoude is considered a highly dispersed village without streets. From Malegoude, there are panoramic views of the Pyrenees.

The commune is part of the Razès de Mirepoix. An edition of the environmental inventory dated June 12, 2024, mentions several hilltop ponds in the eastern part of the area, around Malegoude and Sainte-Foi. The Razès also includes dry grasslands with orchids, Mediterranean-influenced evergreen scrub, forests and woodland, rocky outcrops, and a network of bodies of water. The edition lists the area as a “site inscrit” under the 1930 law and as an area covered by the Habitats Directive.

Church of Sainte-Marie and Local History

The Church of Sainte-Marie stands away from the village of Malegoude and has been mentioned in written records since 1318. Its apse is probably Romanesque in origin. The façade design and some floor plans point in particular to 19th-century contributions. These clues help distinguish the building’s history: the Romanesque attribution applies to the apse, while the 19th-century features are found in the façade and floor plans. The year 1318 dates the written mention, not the entire building as it stands today.

Malegoude had a fortified castle by 1062 at the latest, probably on the site of the “fume du Castélas.” A 1207 document attests to the “force de Malegoude,” which is probably best understood as a small fortified structure. These two medieval references should be interpreted differently: the castle’s location remains uncertain, while the “force” is understood as a small structure. Viticulture is also part of the village’s history. Malegoude was a wine-growing commune until the phylloxera crisis at the beginning of the 20th century brought this economic activity to an end.

The GR®78 Pilgrimage Route

The GR®78, or Chemin du Piémont Pyrénéen, is a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Malegoude is listed as the starting point of the route. The GR®78 passes through the Ariège via Mirepoix and Saint-Lizier, then continues into Spain. As a long-distance route, it connects Montpellier and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port over 700 kilometres. Mirepoix and Saint-Lizier locate its course within the Ariège; the 700 kilometres describe the connection between the two endpoints. Check the latest route information before planning a hike.

A time-specific connection to the Way of St James is provided by the national initiative “1 000 mains pour le chemin de Saint-Jacques”: held annually on the first Saturday in October, it was offered in Malegoude on Saturday, October 7, 2023, as a community effort to enhance the Way of St James. If this event is relevant to your travel plans, check the programme for the year in question.

Discover more destinations: Castelnau-Durban, Château De Montségur, Château-Verdun, Dun, Ganac, Sorgeat, Orgibet, Argein

Go to the main travel overview: Ariège.