Rennes-le-Château
Rennes-le-Château
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Tour Magdala | |
Location of Rennes-le-Château | |
| Coordinates: 42°55′41″N 2°15′48″E / 42.9281°N 02.2633°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Aude |
| Arrondissement | Limoux |
| Canton | La Haute-Vallée de l'Aude |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Alexandre Painco |
Area 1 | 14.68 km2 (5.67 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | 87 |
| • Density | 5.9/km2 (15/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 11309 /11190 |
| Elevation | 272–568 m (892–1,864 ft) (avg. 435 m or 1,427 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
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Rennes-le-Château (French pronunciation: [ʁɛn lə ʃato] ⓘ; Occitan: Rènnas del Castèl) is a commune approximately 5 km (3 miles) south of Couiza, in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in Southern France.
This hilltop village is known internationally; it receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, drawn by conspiracy theories surrounding a putative buried treasure discovered by its 19th-century priest Bérenger Saunière, the precise nature of which is disputed among those who credit its existence.