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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church Saint-Vincent de Barsac, located in the Gironde department on the same name, was built at the beginning of the eighteenth century (1702-1708) under the direction of the Bordeaux architect Claude Joyneau. It replaces a 15th-century building that succeeded an early 11th-century church. The church, dedicated to Saint Vincent (the patron saint of the winemakers), was classified as a historical monument by decree of 1 December 1908. Its architecture combines a latin cross nave, arched sides of warheads, and a slate dome bell tower.

The interior furniture, mostly from the 18th century, includes elements classified as the high altar, the retables (including that of Barthélemy Cabirol), the woodwork of the choir by Simon, and the marble fonts of Quéva. The family of architects Mollié, from Barsac, contributed to the organ stand (1752-1756), the chapels of fonts and dead (1774), and the sacristy. An inscription on a wall of the porch attests to an exceptional flood of the Garonne on 7 April 1770, marking a local climate event.

The building illustrates an innovative architectural technique for the time: quarters of outside vaults encased the main vaults as a continuous arch-button, a rare solution in the region. The upper parts of the bell tower were rebuilt in 1844. The church, a communal property, remains a symbol of the link between religious heritage and the wine identity of Barsac, a village renowned for its liquorous wines.

Its classification among the historic monuments of Gironde highlights its artistic and historical value, especially for its retables and woodwork. The sources also mention works attributed to local artisans such as Combes (sacristy) or Baudoyn (chapelle of 1536). The building is part of a landscape marked by the floods of the Garonne and winemaking activity, two recurrent elements of the Girondine history.

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