orus

Municipality of Orus Altitude: 819 m
Location: in the Vicdessos valley
Number of inhabitants: 26 Distances: Vicdessos 4 km, Tarascon-sur-Ariège 20 km Orus is a hillside village typical of those which were already in place before the year XNUMX. The name Orus is old, since it is the name of a man in Latin which may have been used until this time.
The Romanesque church which still exists today, was built on the outskirts of the village and is dedicated to Saint Germain, which remains rare in our region and is rather specific to northern France. Another village of the same type existed on this soulane a little further to the East. It was named Lourdenac and in the XNUMXth century depended in part on the great lordship of Quié. It is described as ruined at the beginning of the XNUMXth century and was therefore probably deserted in the XNUMXth century. Between the two villages, along the stream, there is a typical old mill, which is probably on the same site as that which belonged to the Count of Foix and which is already mentioned at the end of the Middle Ages.
In 1838, a criminal case in Orus hit the headlines: Marguerite Dhers, widow, had a romantic relationship with a resident of the village to whom she was not married. She gave birth to a child who died a few moments after birth and bore signs of beatings. Denounced and tried, she was pardoned because the child born prematurely had no chance of surviving. This type of business was not isolated in the XNUMXth century because women who had a child out of wedlock were ostracized from society.
Town hall opening hours Tuesday: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.