Signposts at St-Jean direct you to the museum at MAS SOUBEYRAN, a minuscule hamlet of beautiful rough-stone houses in a gully above the village of Mialet, about 12km east. The Musée du Désert (daily: March–June & Sept–Nov 9.30am–noon & 2–6pm; July & Aug 9.30am–7pm; €4), is in the house that once belonged to Rolland, one of the Camisards' self-taught but most successful military leaders, and it remains pretty much the same as it would have been in 1704, the year of his death. It catalogues the appalling sufferings and sheer dogged heroism of the Protestant Huguenots in defence of their freedom of conscience; and the "desert" they had to traverse between the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and the promulgation of the Edict of Tolerance in 1787, which restored their original rights (full emancipation came with the Declaration of the Rights of Man in the first heady months of the Revolution in 1789). During this period, they had no civil rights, unless they abjured their faith. They could not bury their dead, baptize their children or marry. Their priests were forced into exile on pain of death. The recalcitrant were subjected to the infamous dragonnades, which involved the forcible billeting of troops on private homes at the expense of the occupants. As if this were not enough, the soldiers would beat their drums continuously for days and nights in people's bedrooms in order to deprive them of sleep. Protestants were also put to death or sent to the galleys for life and their houses were destroyed.Not surprisingly, such brutality led to armed rebellion, inspired by the prophesying of the lay preachers who had replaced the banished priests, calling for a holy war. The rebels were hopelessly outnumbered and the revolt was ruthlessly put down in 1704. On display are documents, private letters and lists of those who died for their beliefs, including the names of five thousand who died as galley slaves (galériens pour la foi) and the women who were immured in the Tour de Constance prison in Aigues-mortes. There are also the chains and rough uniform of a galérien.
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