Villa Bethania

The Villa Bethania, named to Bethany, the home of the mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible siblings Mary, Martha and Lazarus, is a building in the southern French village of Rennes- le -Château and was in the years from 1901 to 1905 after extensive renovations to the village church Sainte Marie -Madeleine built on the grounds of the village priest, Abbé Saunière. The house in the Neo-Renaissance style was rectory and Saunières residence where he lived with his housekeeper Marie Dénarnaud.

The parsonage is mentioned The Holy Grail and his heirs of the authors Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh in the several editions book gained thereby a certain level of awareness and, together with other buildings in Rennes -le- Château subject of fierce controversy. Today in the building a restaurant and a small museum are created where objects that belonged to the village priest are shown. The estate belonged to the priest's also a small park and the Tour Magdala.

On 3 March 1981, two months before his election as French President François Mitterrand visited the village of Rennes- le -Château with its famous buildings.

Graphical representations of the building can be found in the computer game Gabriel Knight 3, which deals with the building in Rennes- le -Château and the village itself.