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Origin and history

The chapel of Condat, located 1.5 km southeast of Libourne (Gironde), on the right bank of the Dordogne, is a religious building whose oldest parts date back to the 11th century. It was restored and enlarged in the 15th century, probably under the impetus of Charles de Berry, brother of Louis XI and governor of Guyenne. Originally, it depended on a fortified castle (the Castrum Condate), built by William VIII of Aquitaine in the 11th century, of which no trace remains today.

The chapel was originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and served the lords, tenants and manants of the surroundings. It became a high place of Marian devotion, comparable to Notre-Dame de Verdelais, thanks to an oak statue from the Virgin to the Child, an object of pilgrimages and veneration, especially by the seamen of the Dordogne. During the Hundred Years' War, English ships stopped there to seek protection. The statue, hidden during the Wars of Religion and then the Revolution, was saved in 1789 by a named Saboureau, before being returned to the chapel in 1868.

At the French Revolution, the chapel was sold as a national good and transformed into a cellar by the Piffon brothers. In 1865 Albert Piola and his wife bought her back to worship, with the support of Cardinal Donnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux. A complete restoration was carried out, and the chapel solemnly reopened on December 8, 1868. It was listed in the Historical Monuments in 1925 and given to the Bishopric of Bordeaux in 1927.

The building combines Romanesque styles (primitive nave, budding windows in the middle) and late Gothic (lierne vaults and thirdons, carved keys). His 19th-century stained glass windows, signed by Joseph Villiet, Antoine Lusson and Léo Lefèvre, illustrate the life of the Virgin. Among the treasures preserved are a stone statue of the Virgin (16th century, classified in 1908), two models of boats (ex-voto of the 19th century), and a bell of the 15th century (classified in 1922).

The chapel was seriously degraded in the 20th century by water infiltration, linked to its position in a meandering Dordogne. A restoration campaign (2008-2016), led by the association Chapelle Royale Notre-Dame de Condat and financed 50% by grants (DRAC, town hall of Libourne), saved the building for a final cost of €700,000. The works concerned roofing, stained glass, murals and masonry.

Today, the chapel still houses ex-votos (tables, miniature boats) testifying to popular devotion, as well as a mysterious reliquary containing a femur attributed to Sancti Amatoris, possibly linked to Saint Amadour of Rocamadour. Its history, marked by conflicts (the Hundred Years War, the Wars of Religion), legends (a miraculous state found in a field) and restitutions (statues hidden during the Revolution), makes it an emblematic monument of the Aquitaine religious heritage.

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