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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Mazères, located in the hamlet of Mazères on the commune of Castelnau-Rivière-Basse (Hautes-Pyrénées), dates mainly from the 12th century. Its right choir, built around 1120, houses 26 sculpted capitals of various influences, including those of the abbeys of Saint-Sever and Saint-Sernin of Toulouse. A tradition attributes its foundation to the Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, although the archives do not confirm it with certainty. A local legend also links the church to the martyrdom of St. Liberate, the Wisigoth princess of the fifth century, whose relics were preserved there.

In the Middle Ages, Mazères belonged to the Viscounty of Rivière-Basse, passed under English domination in 1360 before being taken over in 1407. The church, which became parish in 1342 under Bishop Pierre-Raymond of Monbrun, was modified to house a chapel dedicated to St. Libérate, adorned with marble chassus and wall paintings. During the Hundred Years' War, it was fortified with high halls, scallops and a defensive staircase tower. A fire, which occurred during the Hundred Years' or Religion's wars, destroyed part of the building, requiring the reconstruction of the ogival vaults and foothills in the 17th century.

In the 18th century, a sacristy was added to the south of the choir, and the sanctuary received a trompe-l'oeil decoration imitating the furniture of the cathedral of Tarbes. Ranked a historic monument in 1910 then in ruins, the church was restored in the 1930s. Disused, it was saved by major works and became an annex to the church of Castelnau-Rivière-Basse. Its architecture, marked by a richly carved Romanesque bedside and a sober nave, reflects the stylistic evolutions and historical tumults of the region.

The capitals of the bedside, exceptionally well preserved, illustrate various themes, ranging from biblical scenes (sacrifice of Isaac, Adoration of the Magi) to Aragonese or Toulouseian influences. The southern portal, less worked, contrasts with the richness of the choir. The shawl of St. Liberate, dated 1342, bears witness to the cultural importance of the site, although its relics were dispersed in 1793. The church, built in stone and stone, combines structural simplicity and decorative refinement, typical of the religious buildings of the South-West.

The successive changes — medieval fortification, Baroque vaulting, neoclassical additions — reveal its adaptation to liturgical and defensive needs. Today, although disused, it remains a major testimony of the Romanesque art of gascon and the historical stratifications of Bigorre, between Bigordan, Bearnais and Toulouse influences.

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